


i hope you know you're my desire (i hope you know you're the one)

by beezran



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, F, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Homophobia Doesn't Exist, M/M, OH GOD OH FUCK, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, anyway i love dave and klaus and wish only the best for them, ben is fucking ready to throw down with luther, cuco's music makes me so soft, diego ben and klaus are good brothers, everyone be nice to vanya and klaus challenge, five's trying, hargreeves learn how to be siblings challenge, i'm gay and i say so, i'm gay and soft for soulmate aus, klaus is nb and pan there are FACTS, luther doesn't have a soulmate rip, luther perish challenge, no beta we die like men, this is so long i can't believe, this was going well but then took a dive off a cliff el em ay oh, ya know?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 16:49:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18503044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beezran/pseuds/beezran
Summary: It must be fate when Dave puts his hand on Klaus’ cheek right as Klaus starts to ache for his kiss.Kiss me.His touch makes Klaus stand up straighter and edge closer to him.“You’re beautiful, you know?” Dave says, and even with all that they’ve been drinking, Klaus knows it isn’t that what’s talking.“Kiss me,” Klaus actually says it. He can’t take it back, and he doesn’t want to when Dave is looking at him like that.Dave’s breath ghosts over his lips and Klaus keeps repeating it in his head like a prayer.Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me.Or he might have said it, he’s not sure when he’s so caught up in the feeling of Dave so close to him.





	i hope you know you're my desire (i hope you know you're the one)

**Author's Note:**

> lmao this is like purely self indulgent. Anyway, i feel like the characterization is super off. Whatever, I'm proud of finishing this and that's what matters.

Klaus has been holding Death’s hand since he was born.

Even before his father knew what he was good for (or rather not, if the disappointed looks are anything to go by), Death has been clutching him.

He’d like to say he’s used to it, the cold hands that clutch at him like a lifeline.

 _Liked_ (key word).

He’s not.

He’s always been so scared of what he could see. Those terrors were only for him.

He found a way to make them go away, he tried to make them disappear with a joint and a bag of pills.

It worked, it rushed through his veins and numbed all that was around him.

Klaus was numb all the time, he often thought that any real feeling will crush him after years of just floating with no real feeling. That’s why his fear almost killed him. It threatened to wrap around his throat and squeeze. First in the mausoleum, then in the dark closet of a motel.

Not only that but he was born into a world of cruelty and fate.

He was born into a world that had printed a sentence on each one of his wrists. His right wrist told the worlds that his soulmate would first say to him, his left the last words of his soulmate. Klaus thinks it’s cruel; he’s read of cases where someone realizes the person they’ve spent most of their life with is not even their soulmate upon uttering their last words.

_Just get into the country?_

His father had always thought soulmates were a distraction from their training, therefore, Klaus had never traveled to any of their foreign missions. Reginald was too afraid that he would meet his soulmate outside of New York. He’s never been in control of his own life anyway.

_You were always my greatest happiness, darling._

Out of all of his siblings, Klaus was the one whose last words were the sweetest. Klaus never believed he deserved them.

That has nothing to do with getting kidnapped, but Klaus thinks it’s worth throwing out that the world is cruel enough to taunt him with the happiness this person will most likely bring him when his life has been so shitty since birth.

Including the fact that he was bound to a chair for a whole day and night with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

Klaus had always thought he would end up dead in an alley, another faceless bastard that died because of the pills in his system. And he was somehow fine with that. But he never imagined he would be tortured to death by two masked maniacs. That thought doesn’t pass by many minds anyway.

He figures it’s only fair, though. Everything from his birth to this point had been unexpected and unconceivable. But you know, that’s just how things go when not even your birth can be explained and your mother sold you to a rich asshole.

So now because of that, he sat. He took in whatever they threw at him, endured the pain of every torture method they knew.

Klaus didn’t talk. He laughed and listened to Ben. He smiled at Ben while Ben looked around for a way to help Klaus. It was useless. Ben was dead and even if Klaus could see him, there was nothing he could do.

(“Is your brother here?”)

“You’re gonna have to be more specific,” Klaus had said and shared a smile with Ben who had winked from where he lied on the bed.

Eventually, he figured a way to buy himself some time. Well Ben did, he encouraged Klaus to talk with the ghosts that haunted the motel room. And Klaus did, Ben had always been the thinker of the family he thought he owed him that much.

But then they found his stash and Klaus had promised himself that he would keep his family safe but God… he just wanted out. It was getting easier to drown out the voices of the dead but Klaus just wanted out. So he talked. He bought himself more time, in a small motel room closet. With the dead clawing at him with hands that passed through his skin but still felt like they burned him. They did, they burned him with their gaze and Klaus hated himself so much for relying on something that could have been so easily taken from him.

But it doesn’t matter. He got out through an air duct and stole a briefcase along the way.

“Payback,” he says with a shrug when Ben lifts an eyebrow.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Ben says, his hoodie is up and his arms are crossed over his chest.

“Like you would know,” Ben scoffs before turning his head away. Klaus pays him no mind, and he won’t later on when he’s stoned out of his mind.

Klaus feels bad, that not even in death he’s free of Klaus’ bullshit. It had been a promise in a dark room when they were seven. Klaus had just woken up from a nightmare and like always, Ben had slipped out of his room and made his way into Klaus’. He held Klaus’ hand and hugged him. A promise that had been made after a night of screaming.

“I’ll never leave you alone, Klaus,” Ben had whispered as they wrapped their pinkies together. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Klaus had smiled, the ghosts were terrifying but at least he had his brother, and with Ben at his side, he could take over the world.

(He couldn’t.)

“I’m pretty sure you can’t die again,” Klaus had said one evening while Ben sat next to the window from which Klaus was smoking out of. “You don’t have to keep that promise, not anymore at least.”

Ben shrugged, “We both know that death has never been an obstacle for you.”

He didn’t know how to feel- guilty that his brother couldn’t find peace or whatever it was dead people were supposed to do- but he appreciated the company.

“This is the most sober I’ve seen you in weeks,” Ben says. “Klaus, I know you struggle but you have so much ahead of you.”

Klaus waves him off. He struggles for a few more seconds before he hears the click of the latches. Ben flops down and leans over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glance of whatever was inside before Klaus pawned it.

“Please let it be money,” Klaus whispers like it’s a prayer, it most likely is after more than ten hours of nothing in his system.

Apparently, hoping for money is too much. There’s no money, quite actually, Klaus has no idea what the briefcase has. One second he’s in the bus, sunlight streaming through the windows, the next there’s nothing. Only blue light. Then he’s falling, only for a second before he falls onto the ground.

He makes enough of a commotion to wake up the man that sleeps on the cot next to where he landed. His eyes are groggy with sleep and confusion as Klaus stares back at him with a million questions in his mind.

No time to ask those questions, not when an explosion goes off in the distance and suddenly everyone is scrambling to get their clothes on and leave the tent.

Klaus has no idea what to do. He stands there and holds his hands out in front of himself when a man bursts through the tent flap. “What, you got mud in your ears, boy?”

“I-I don’t…” None of what he has to say matters, not to these men or to the bombs going off in the distance.

“War ain’t gonna wait for you to get pretty! Get some pants on and get on the move!”

Klaus takes the pants that are handed to him and clutches at the gun that he’s handed. He scrambles like everyone else through his shock and his questions. He pays no mind to the helmet that’s placed on his head and he tries not to cower at every explosion.

He follows the others to the bus and stares straight ahead. He presses his feet to the sides of the briefcase under his seat, his ticket home. He thinks about the right time to use it, makes the whole plan in his head of when it would be a great time to slip out.

“Just get into the country?” a gentle yet deep voice makes Klaus jump a bit and turn to his left to look into baby blue eyes that had just been squinting at him in confusion a few hours before. The words send chills down his spine and Klaus stares at him without saying anything for a solid minute before he remembers that words are supposed to be said at a greeting.  
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Klaus says, he’s not sure those words are the ones that are on this man’s wrist, but Klaus can dream.

He can also hope.

The man’s eyes widen and he’s extending his hand for a handshake, “I’m Dave.”

Klaus takes his hand in his, too lost in baby blue eyes to even bother checking if his words are on Dave’s wrist. “Klaus.”

Klaus flinches at the sound of distant explosions and Dave only offers him a small smile.

“Shit’s crazy, I know.” Then he leans in a bit and tightens his grip on Klaus’ hand, “You’ll adjust.”

Klaus aches as his hand remains in Dave’s. He aches with his eyes on Dave’s and the weight of his words on Klaus’ wrist.

Dave sits besides him and talks him through the common strategies and how to properly fire a gun, pointing out the parts that he’ll need to memorize.

“I’ll show you properly once we get back,” Klaus is more than grateful that he doesn’t say if. He has faith that Klaus will survive his first battle. Klaus takes that faith to heart.

The battle is a lot. The bullets are too loud for Klaus to hear anything, he’s thankful on the side that it drowns out all the screams of the dead. He still hates it. He hates having to see men that he just met getting gunned down. He hates the way the dirt sticks to him and the sweat makes his clothes cling to his skin. Klaus hates it all.

He almost hates it as much as he hated training. Almost.

A nameless battle in an unknown time gives him a headache and adrenaline. All those missions and training made him want to die. It made him into what he was.

It made him lose a brother and made getting stoned the only way to feel better.

Granted, this battle is worth getting stoned over. There’s more bloodshed than Klaus has ever been used to and a hell of a lot more noise. It drives him crazy.

Somehow though, he survives, maybe it’s the adrenaline or the fact that he had stuck close to Dave.

Dave was good at combat, he was the poster boy for the army, charming and knowledgeable. He pushed Klaus out of danger and yelled directions on how to properly aim and shoot a gun.  
Back at camp, he teaches Klaus all that he knows. He teaches him how to properly take cover and their different strategies for retreat and combat. The lessons only last a week. By then, Dave deems Klaus as more of an expert than himself.

Klaus catches on fairly quick. Believe it or not, he did tend to listen to his father’s lessons on combat. Hell, Klaus knew how to break necks before he even had a name. Soon, Klaus would be able to fill in on the right techniques for different situations.

Dave noticed, he grinned at Klaus.

“Are you sure you’re not already familiar with this stuff?” He asked after Klaus had demonstrated a particular move he had been forced to practice when he was younger.

Klaus shrugs before flopping down on the ground, “Daddy dearest based our education in proper ways to kill men twice our size.” Dave’s eyes widen but he doesn’t pry on the subject. “Kind of made us into this group of little soldiers.”

“Well,” Dave offers his hand to pick Klaus up, “that sounds awful, but it might be enough to keep you alive through this whole thing.”

Klaus smiles, “As much as I hated the old bastard, it seems his lessons and all that trauma did work for something.”

Dave twists his lips into a frown, eyebrows furrowed. It’s not the first time Klaus realizes just how handsome he is, but it’s the first time he wants to act on it. He should have used the suitcase after that first battle. But he stayed, for a pair of pretty baby blue eyes and the words on his wrist.

Also because he can’t figure for shit how the briefcase works.

Weeks pass, and somehow, Klaus gets used to it. He adapts the routine of war and he manages to numb the screams of the dead with any alcohol he gets his hands on.

He gets close to Dave. It’s easy, so easy when he smiles like that and his eyes shine in the sunlight. It’s so easy to be friends with him when he takes in whatever Klaus tells him and doesn’t ask for more. It’s easy, even more so when he catches sight of Dave’s wrist.

_Yeah, I guess you could say that._

And it shouldn’t be easy because it means Dave doesn’t want him if he hasn’t said anything about their wrists. But Klaus doesn’t care. He should, but he can’t when Dave continues to smile like that and he wants whatever he can get.

It’s easy for Klaus to stay quiet around him, not needing to scream for the attention. He doesn’t need to be flowy or eccentric around Dave, he just needs to be himself. That’s all he needs to get Dave’s attention. Not his outrageous clothes, not his manic laughs, just himself. He’s allowed to remain muted and still, to catch his breath.

He grew up in a house where everyone was actively seeking out attention and affection, where no one got it. Now he has it, attention and fond looks from someone who he burns to be with.

 

On one of their days off, Klaus sits on his cot, the one next to Dave’s, when Dave enters the tent and smiles at him.

Klaus doesn’t need the words on his wrist to tell him that he’s in love with Dave.

“Some of the guys and I are heading into town for a couple of drinks.” Dave lifts an eyebrow, “Would you like to join?”

Klaus returns the smile, “Hell yeah.”

Dave grins, that dashing smile that Klaus would give anything up for.

The bar is packed with young women and soldiers looking for a good time and to forget about the war. Klaus can appreciate that. That feeling of letting go, he never asked to be in this war anyway.

He’s a few shots down when he finally lets go on the dance floor, all loose limbs and carefree smiles. That’s until he accidentally bumps into Dave.

They’re friends, they’re drinking together, but Klaus wants to forget that. He wants to forget that even if their words match, Dave doesn’t want him. Klaus is so far gone to be able to forget by himself. And alcohol and drugs are easy to come by in such a horrifying war.

It’s still hard to forget, mostly because he’s kind of limited himself to only alcohol after his first battle high.

He almost died. Dave saved him. He always does.

The alcohol had been enough to take the edge off and let go, so he jokingly raises a fist and shakes it in Dave’s direction, condemning, after they collide on the dance floor. Dave smiles at him. Klaus is so far gone it’s not even funny anymore.

The music is slow and easy to fall into step with, but it’s also not like Klaus didn’t grow up with these songs. So once again he falls into step with the rest of the bar, except that this time Dave is there and he’s close and he’s everything Klaus has ever wanted.

He’s more drunk than he was a few minutes ago, so it’s easy to stare at Dave. Everything is easy when Dave is around. He’s Klaus’ anchor, he’s never been able to think as clearly as when Dave is around. Yet he’s scrambled and fumbling, because Dave leaves him breathless.

But right now, his only thoughts are how much Klaus wants him. How much he wants to kiss him, to hold him.

_Kiss me._

He almost says it as they stare at each other, barely two feet apart. Klaus has never felt so alive yet breathless.

The night goes on, and the two edge closer to each other. It burns him, every brush of hands and every look that’s sent his way. It all burns him. Their arms are around each other as they down some shots. Klaus wins every time and Dave smiles at him like it’s something truly amazing.

Then Dave takes his hand, “Come with me.”

Klaus raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything as he follows Dave to a secluded corner of the bar, shadowed by a bead curtain. Klaus leans back against the wall, giggles rising to his throat and glass of whiskey in hand. Dave stands by him, all bright smiles and baby blue eyes. Klaus loves him.

He’s only known him for two months, yet his heart doesn’t know time when he’s with Dave.

He doesn’t say anything, not about their wrists, too afraid to break this safe little place and atmosphere between them. Instead, he laughs at Dave’s jokes and tells some of his own.

And, oh god, he’s so beautiful. He’s bathed in the red lights on the bar and there’s sweat on his chest, exposed by a few buttons of his shirt having come undone by his own hand because of the heat. He smiles like there isn’t a war waiting for them right outside of this place. Klaus has never met someone like him, and it takes no time before he’s drowning in his eyes and burning in his gaze.

It must be fate, Klaus knows it even when he’s never be one to believe in such thing, in a world where everyone is meant to be with someone because of the words on their wrists (almost everyone, he reminds himself of Luther’s bare wrists). It must be fate that he didn’t notice when two masked maniacs broke into his house in search of his brother. That he was kidnapped by them. That he escaped through the duct in which the briefcase was in. It must be fate that he went back in time to the exact place and date in which he would meet Dave.

It must be fate when Dave puts his hand on Klaus’ cheek right as Klaus starts to ache for his kiss.

_Kiss me._

His touch makes Klaus stand up straighter and edge closer to him.

“You’re beautiful, you know?” Dave says, and even with all that they’ve been drinking, Klaus knows it isn’t that what’s talking.

“Kiss me,” Klaus actually says it. He can’t take it back, and he doesn’t want to when Dave is looking at him like _that._

Dave’s breath ghosts over his lips and Klaus keeps repeating it in his head like a prayer.

_Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me._

Or he might have said it, he’s not sure when he’s so caught up in the feeling of Dave so close to him.

His hand caresses his cheek before slowly moving down to his neck. Then his lips on Klaus’. The taste of Dave is like the sound of Apollo’s lyre, so sweet and something so holy; something that’s golden. Klaus feels as if Dave’s kiss was always meant to be a part of him. Klaus has never been one to think or dwell on love, but it’s a high better than any other he’s felt. He chases it, he chases Dave’s lips and his breaths. He catches them and he refuses to let go. It’s greedy, he knows and he could care less.

In that moment, Dave is for him, only him.

Klaus eventually leans back, panting for air and craving his lips. Dave keeps his hand on his cheek and Klaus covers it with his own.

“I thought I would never get to do that,” Klaus whispers, his eyes on Dave, drinking in the sight of him bathed in the neon lights.

Dave furrows his eyebrows and leans forward until their foreheads touch. “You’re an idiot for thinking I didn’t want it as much as you.”

Klaus scoffs, “Then why didn’t you bring up the marks?”

Dave thinks about it for a second, though his eyes remain on Klaus’. “I think I was afraid. I was afraid to get close to you in a place like this. One of us could die, and maybe if I didn’t bring it up and you never found out about my wrists, you wouldn’t suffer as much.”

“I would have found out either way, you know,” Klaus offers a smile in return to Dave’s guilty look. “You’re supposed to be the smarter of the two, babe.”

Dave smiles and leans forward to capture Klaus’ lips with his once again.

The world is theirs in a small bar in the middle of a war torn Vietnam.

 

Everything is simpler afterwards, they stand by each other’s side, as they always had but there was something different about this. Everyone notices in no time, it’s hard not to when they’re practically glowing in their love. It’s all so easy for Klaus; for him to consider life with Dave, away from all the hurt that haunts him and his siblings. He could do that, finish their tour, head back to the States with him, stay in his arms.

It’s selfish, to be willing to abandon his siblings and the world. But Klaus has it all in Dave’s smiles and their kisses.

They sit, closely enough that it feels like they’re the only ones at camp. If only for a second. Hands intertwined and leaning against a tree.

“Tell me about your family,” Dave says softly and he keeps his hand on Klaus’.

Klaus tenses but does his best to appear nonchalant. “There’s not much to tell,” that’s the biggest lie he’s ever told. “We were seven kids, then it came down to five when we were nineteen.” Klaus has to avert his eyes when he tells him about the two that they lost, “Fiv- I mean, Fabian went missing when we were thirteen. Then Ben died in an accident when we were nineteen.”

Dave hesitates for a moment, then he softly takes Klaus’ face in his hands, “I’m sorry.”

Klaus shrugs, “It’s whatever. Our father made it seem like he cared about Five, he put up some paintings of him after he went missing. It was a cheap way to cover up all the trauma and hurt he inflicted upon us. Sometimes, I dreamt of doing what he did, just getting up and running out of the house. Getting as far away as possible.”

Dave stares at him for a long time. “Five?” Klaus watches the question as it slips past his lips, yet it doesn’t register.

Then it does and he realizes his mistake. “Yeah, uh, Fabian. Mom was the one that named us and I don’t think Dad ever did bother to learn our names. He called us by a number. Five never wanted one, he always had this superiority complex, to him name’s weren’t worth shit. He didn’t take one.”

“I’m really considering punching your father.”

“We all did at some point,” Klaus says and takes Dave’s hand in his. “Everyone but Luther, he was always the favorite. He was Number One, not even Diego was that important compared to him. I don’t think that bastard cared when we lost Number Six.”

Dave hesitates for a second, “Ben?”

Klaus nods, “He called him that on his funeral. Not Ben, not his son. Just ‘Number Six.’ There’s a statue… Well there was, Luther and Diego broke it a few days before I left, during our father’s funeral. They got into a fight and those can get pretty brutal. But anyway, the statue, it had his name on it but names weren’t important enough for us to get them. Not to him at least.”

Dave’s eyes remain on his, he’s beautiful and Klaus still can’t believe that he’s his.

“I hated everything about growing up in that place.” Klaus runs an exasperated hand through his dark curls. “I hated what it did to us, how much it tore us apart. I hate that he never bothered to realize that his ways pained us and set us back. I hate that I never had the courage to say anything.”

“Hey,” Dave puts his fingers under his chin and brings his face up so their eyes meet, “none of what you went through was your fault, darling. You were just kids, you deserved to act as such. What you went though doesn’t define you.”

Klaus sighs, “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

 

War is a lot harder to live through when you have something to lose. He promises himself that he won’t lose Dave one night that they’re wrapped up in each other’s arms. He tells himself over and over again that he’ll live through it- the withdrawals and the war- if not for himself then for Dave.

 _When he died, all things bright and beautiful would be buried along with him._ He’s sure he read that in some book, an old tragedy he found in the library that actually grabbed his attention. He’d never felt the true sentiment of the words sink in as much as now that they practically feel as if they’ve been etched onto his bones, past the point of being burnt to his skin.

 _He carries a part of my soul with him wherever he goes; and my heart follows along,_ He writes in a letter he’ll never send, because there’s no one that even knows he’ll be born. In this time, he’s not even a thought. There’s nowhere to call home besides Dave’s arms.

He tries not to dwell too much on it, he keeps the faith of survival tucked in his chest, close to his heart.

But it gets worse.

A bullet gets far too close to Klaus for comfort. It was too much, the texture of the sandbags and the sound of bullets. The panicked screams from Dave as blood gushes out of his arm and Klaus feels a stinging pain.

“Klaus?” Dave’s eyes are wide with worry and even with the dirt on his face, Klaus can’t help but think he’s the most beautiful man he’s ever met. “Babe? We gotta go! We need someone to check that. Does it hurt?”

Klaus nods weakly. “It’s only a sting, baby blues.”

They retreat, Klaus with an arm around Dave’s shoulders.

“We gotta make sure it’s not infected, darling,” Dave says and kisses his forehead once they make it to camp and to the the medical tent.

Klaus huffs as he leans back into the uncomfortable cot and Dave makes him make room for him. He holds his hand through the whole revision. Everyone’s so used to their shameless flirting and PDA, the medic says nothing. Dave brings their hands up to his mouth to place a kiss on Klaus’ hand.

Klaus rolls his eyes, “I’m fated to spend the rest of my life with a sap, huh?”

Dave smacks him with his free hand but it’s undermined with the soft smile on his face, which Klaus returns. They sit there, in the medical tent and shoulder to shoulder in the small cot and it’s everything Klaus will ever need.

Klaus now knows what love feels like; he’s known since before that night at the bar where they first kissed. So he says it.

“I didn’t know what love was until I met you,” he breathes out because he’s always breathless around Dave. Without really thinking about it, because what is there to think of when it’s the truest thing he’s said?

Dave looks at him with pure joy in his eyes and says, “And I thought I was the sap.”

Klaus elbows him before he leans in for a kiss. Like always, Dave’s gentle hands make their way to softly cradle his face. Klaus loves it, he loves how gentle and loving Dave is. He loves that it’s only meant for him.

“I love you,” Dave breathes into his lips.

“I love you too,” Klaus whispers back before diving in for one more kiss, always chasing his high and the source of his craving.

 

Klaus feels like he can actually breathe in their days off. When he doesn’t have to worry about Dave’s whereabouts and wracking his brain in search of the last thing he said to him before heading to the front lines. He never wants to compare his wrists to his last moments with Dave.

On their days off, it feels like he could eat the world raw. He walks through the streets while holding Dave’s hand. Dave’s telling him about his mom and the last letter he got when he stops. He stands still and looking into the windows of a store, eyes fixated on something but Klaus can’t figure out what.

“Babe?” He tentatively places a hand on Dave’s shoulder, snapping him back to reality.

“Sorry,” Dave gives him a sheepish smile, “I just remembered I haven’t written to Eli in such a long time.”

Klaus smiles, “Don’t worry, babe. Go write to your sister, there’s a store that caught my eye anyway.”

Dave grins and places a chaste kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you later then?”

Klaus smiles, “As if you could ever get rid of me.”

They part, and Klaus spends the rest of the day going through stores and chatting up different people. It’s not hard to get caught up in the sights of the city and the colors of clothes and stores.

When the sky is getting dark and the stars begin to shine, Klaus deems it as a great time to return to their hotel room and into Dave’s arms.

Dave’s sitting on their bed, book in hand, the lamp on the bedside table is the only source of light and its yellowish glow makes the room feel homey.

“Hey,” Klaus smiles and heads over to the bed after dropping off his bags by the door.

Dave smiles and looks up from his book. “Hey, love.” The nickname never fails to make Klaus giddy. To know he’s loved and as deeply as Dave does, it’s exhilarating in every way.

Klaus flops down onto the bed and leans into Dave’s side, looking at the book he’s reading. Dave turns to look at him sheepishly, “How was your day?”

Klaus shrugs, “It was fine. I just kinda walked around and struck up conversation here and there.” He turns to look Klaus in the eyes and he can practically feel his face soften at the sight of him. “Yours?”

Dave smiles and leans in more so their foreheads are pressed together and their noses nuzzle. “Slow, there was so much to tell Eli. I didn’t quite know where to start.”

Klaus hums as Dave leans further in and he’s peppering his face with small kisses, the kind that make Klaus’ skin tickle. And it’s so ironic; he’d been all over the place and no real place to call home, unstable and alone. In a seemingly peaceful world, Klaus’ life was pretty torn. Now, in a war, he’s found a home in baby blue eyes and bright grins. He’s found love in a man that stabilizes him and patted his back and said comforting little nothings while he threw up because of withdrawals. He’s found a place where he can stand and not fear to fall because he knows Dave will be there to help him back up.

He’s at home in soft lights and even softer kisses.

 

It’s their last night off, they’re with the rest of the squad trying to savor the moment in a town bar. Dave and Klaus have spent all night by each other’s side.

Klaus loves him, he knows it’s written all over his face as he sways to the music with Dave pressed up against him.

Dave sends him a sly smile, color high on his cheeks from the alcohol and heat, and ushers him away from the dancefloor. Klaus rolls his eyes and flips off their squad, the men that have become his brothers in arms, as they whistle and jeer at the retreating couple.

Dave wipes his hands on his pants once they get to their secluded corner, where they first kissed.

“Is everything ok?” Klaus asks and gently takes his hand in his.

“Everything’s fine, love,” Dave pulls on his hand and makes Klaus take an unexpected step forward and falls against Dave’s chest.

“Asshole!” Klaus laughs and leans further into Dave.

Dave laughs along with him before leaning back a bit. “Alright, uh, Klaus Hargreeves, I first saw you after you appeared in a flash of light, in the middle of the night and with no follow up as to what that light was. And it didn’t matter, because you had my words etched onto your skin. You were so damn beautiful and I couldn’t help but follow you wherever you went.” Dave averts his gaze and reaches into his pants’ pocket. Klaus is too entranced with Dave’s eyes to notice that he pulls out a box.

Then Dave kneels and Klaus feels all the air being knocked out of his lungs.

“Klaus, I know this is not the ideal time and place, the midst of war, but I know, since the first time that I kissed you and maybe even before that, that I want to be with you. All of my life, baby, it’s meant to be at your side. And it goes way beyond the words on our wrists.” Dave smiles and shakily opens the box, “So, Klaus Hargreeves, will you marry me?”

War gets easier when he’s with the love of his life and there’s a ring on his finger.

 

Klaus has been in Vietnam for a little over ten months, every night he sleeps in Dave’s arms. Being there is still hard when not even the comfort of Dave’s arms around him and the warmth of his body is enough to keep the screams of the dead away. He deals through it. There’s always soft words and comforting kisses waiting for him when he wakes up with screams in his throat.

Dave takes his hand to place a kiss on it. Klaus smiles and leans so their foreheads touch.

“God, babe,” Klaus says, “I can’t wait to get out of here so we can start the life we’ve been talking about.”

“I promise that we will.” Dave pauses for a second before a devilish grin settles on his lips. “Maybe we’ll even go and spit on your father’s grave.”

“He doesn’t have a grave but I would gladly spit on his portraits.”

Dave laughs, loud and lively and then he wraps his arms around Klaus. “Hurry up to get ready.” He furrows his eyebrows and puts on a theatrical frown, “War ain’t gonna wait for you to get pretty.”

Klaus snorts and kisses him. “I’ll meet you at the bus.”

 

The front lines are harsh but he keeps his head down and does his best to keep himself alive.

“Christ on a cracker!” Klaus says as he emerges for where he had taken cover. “That was a close one, huh, Dave?” There’s no answer from Dave, he remains in his spot, hands on his gun. “Dave? Babe?”

He scrambles to where Dave is crouched behind the sandbags and turns him so his chest is facing up. It lets Klaus see the hole on his chest and the blood. Oh god, why the fuck is there so much blood?

His hands shake as he touches the wound and presses down on it to try to stop the bleeding. “Babe, oh god, no. No, no, no, no no, no…” Klaus looks around in search of someone or something to help, anything. “Medic!” The word tears his lungs. He turns back to Dave and cradles his face. “Babe, please stay with me. Dave! No! No! Dave!”

Hit me, strike me dead. Drown me in the storm of bullets. But don’t leave me here, not without him.

Then an idea comes to mind and Klaus clutches at it.

Klaus isn’t sure of what exactly he’s doing as he runs out of the battlefield, Dave in his arms, and adrenaline in his veins. It’s only when he somehow gets to the briefcase and punches in the date with shaky fingers covered in blood that he realizes that Dave is dying.

Dave is dying and his blood paints Klaus’ hands.

A feeling of utter despair grips at him as he fumbles with the latches of the briefcase at the same time he holds Dave close to him, fearing that he’ll die if he lets go. Klaus opens it, right as tears start to clear paths on his filthy cheeks.

A flash of blue light.

The world is slipping through his fingers.

Once again, he floats before he’s crashing down. This time, he lands on one of his father’s vintage rugs instead of the dirty ground.

The sound of war follows him all the way to 2019, they follow him into the living room of the house he grew up in. He holds Dave closer to himself as if trying to shield him from the imaginary battles that have followed him fifty years into the future.

Dave’s voice was what drove him to react, a peasant after the sweet melody of Orpheus’s lyre, that’s all he’s ever been. A chaser of his sweet melody. “Klaus,” A breath, one that sounds pained and rattled. “Babe, where are we?”

Klaus leans down to kiss his forehead and hold him close to himself before he’s screaming, calling for help. For someone, anyone. He leans down to press his nose against Dave’s, “Babe, please stay with me, alright? We still gotta do all those things we planned. We still have to get married and buy that house near the beach. We still have to be happy. Please stay with me baby.”

Dave smiles at him sadly and weakly brings up a hand to Klaus' cheek, “You were always my greatest happiness, darling.”

Klaus feels a jolt go through his body at the words. Once again, he’s breathless, but it’s different. He hates it. It’s not how he felt when he was at the bar or when Dave’s lips were on his. “No. You’re the only one for me, babe. I can’t lose you.”

Dave’s lips part as if to speak but he’s interrupted by a door opening.

“Klaus?” Footsteps get close to where Klaus is. “Klaus!”

“You’re my greatest and only love,” he whispers into Dave’s lips before he’s being pulled away. “No! Let go of me!” He thrashes in Diego’s hold, he claws at the air as if it would bring him closer to Dave. His Dave, the one that Luther is lifting up in his arms as Mom follows behind while starting her procedure.

“Klaus!” Klaus breaks, he stops struggling once Dave is out of the room. Diego deems that it’s safe enough to let go of him.

Klaus falls onto the ground. His chest is ripped apart and his body shakes as he sobs into his hands, still covered with Dave’s blood. Then he screams, he screams until his throat burns and even then he keeps going. Soon, he’s out of tears and his voice is fading.

He doesn’t register that there’s two pairs of arms wrapped around him. He doesn’t give them time to settle around his body anyway, not before he’s shooting up onto his feet and racing out of the living room and into the infirmary.

He bursts through the door, the smell of iron infecting the air. Klaus almost crumbles at the sight of Dave on the surgical table, chest covered in blood. Luther stops him at the door. It’s pointless to try to fight him but Klaus still tries.

“Luther,” He growls, nothing but despair in his voice, “let me be with him. He’s the love of my life, I can’t lose him. I won’t.”

Luther doesn’t budge and Klaus hates him. He hates him more than he hates the dead that haunt him. But he doesn’t fight, he doesn’t have the strength to. Instead he watches the heart monitor as he begs for Dave to live. He doesn’t know who he’s pleading with, but anyone that takes pity on him and lets Dave live is good enough.

But no one has pity for him. That much is evident when the heart monitor speeds up before going flat. Klaus screams again and brings his hands up to his hair to clutch at the curls. He rips them off his head and pays no mind to how much it hurts to do so.

Luther drops his guard as he too watches Dave die. Klaus takes it as a chance to rush forward and only stops when he’s at Dave’s side.

“Master Klaus,” Pogo says but Klaus pays him no mind. The only thing that matters is that Dave’s dead.

It takes a second for it to truly sink in, and even less for the grief to take place before it’s replaced with pure rage.

“No!” He screeches with what little strength he has left before he breaks down in sobs at Dave’s side. “No! You promised me we would make it out alive. You promised me you would never leave me.” Klaus takes his hand and clutches at it. “You promised me!” He lifts his fist up, the one with the ring he hasn’t taken off since Dave slid it onto his finger, and brings it down with all of his strength.

There’s better ways to handle the body of your fallen lover, Klaus knows that, but he can’t bring himself to care when all that he feels is pain and grief. So Klaus falls apart. He falls apart on Dave’s chest and laments all those times he didn’t kiss him or hold him. Klaus might be able to see him, but he won’t ever feel his warmth or his lips.

He hears the quiet whispers of his siblings, all of them far enough to not draw on the attention of grief ridden Klaus.

_Beep._

Everyone goes quiet at the sound. Klaus lifts his head and sees a rise on the flat line. Then more begin to form. Grace rushes forward and Pogo leads him away from Dave. Klaus is too out of it, after all the emotions he went through in such a short time, to even care.

But then, his wrists begin to burn. Klaus feels a scream being ripped out of his throat as his pain takes over his body. It’s too much, his skin is being ripped apart, he knows it is. It’s worse than when their father forced them to get that fucking umbrella tattooed when they were barely thirteen. The pain is too much, he’s so focused on it he doesn’t realize he’s been lifted onto Allison’s lap and that his brothers are softly calling his name, trying to figure out what the hell is happening.

The heart monitor speeds up as Grace does everything in her power to revive and stabilize Dave.

Klaus looks down at his wrists and is able to see new words forming through the tears in his eyes- because of the pain or the grief, who will ever know?

Klaus shakes his head at the words and begs. No, he doesn’t want them if they’re not Dave.

_Where the fuck are we, darling?_

And then the pain stops, and his ears stop ringing and his head is still pounding into his skull but he’s able to think more clearly. He can hear the heart monitor and its steady beeping. He lifts his head up and stares at the surgical table, at the heart monitor and the steady rise of the line, at Dave, whose chest is rising and falling.

The words only appeared when Dave’s heart started beating again.

“Klaus,” Diego’s voice doesn’t have the hard edge it usually has, “what the hell is going on?” His voice falters upon noticing how wrecked his brother looks and he reaches out to catch his arm. Diego takes another look at him; the dirt on his face and the exhaustion that lingers under his eyes before he’s pulling him into a hug. “I was fucking terrified when I didn’t see you in the room.

Klaus waves his hand dismissively before steadily getting up and walking over to Dave’s side. Diego doesn’t miss the way he flinches at the mention of the room and he presses his lips into a tight line. He lets it go and retreats to his place besides Allison and Luther who quietly take in the scene and try to process all that just happened before their eyes.

Grace hums as she cleans up, she smiles when she meets his eyes.

“He’s really lucky,” She says with that perfect smile of hers. “The bullet missed anything important, he just suffered a lot of blood loss and a punctured muscle. We’ll have to keep his arm on a sling, but he should be up and about after a few hours of rest. He shouldn’t strain himself and it’s better if he stays here to rest. He’s welcome to explore the house, though!”

Klaus nods, none of the words really registering in his mind except for the ones that imply that Dave will live and that he’ll be fine. “Thanks, Mom.” He looks up from Dave’s face and meets her eyes, “He means so much to me, thank you for not letting him die.”

Grace smiles, like she always does, and leans forward to boop his nose, “Anytime, silly.”

“Klaus,” Luther’s voice, even and demanding as ever, cuts through the calming silence of the infirmary. “I think you have a lot of explaining to do.”

Klaus scoffs, “The only thing I have to do right now is stay at his side.”

“Can we at least know who he is?” Diego asks, he keeps an eye on the monitor, fearing for it to fall flat again and watch his brother go to pieces once again.

“His name is Dave,” Klaus says and lifts his hand to softly move a stray curl from Dave’s face. He lifts his other hand up to show his wrist, the new words nothing but an afterthought and the pain is only a fleeting thought, “He said them.”

Allison gasps, “Klaus!”

Klaus is reminded of that time that they were fifteen and on the set of a talk show, the daughter of the host had gone up to Allison and said something in her soft voice. Allison had practically shut down for a second before she screeched, “It’s you, you’re the one!”

Everyone had kept their mouths shut, no one wanted Allison to be torn from her soulmate by their father. And then when they were eighteen, Allison had gotten into her soulmate’s car and driven off to an audition. The next time any of them saw her was on her debuting film.

“Alright,” Diego says, “that still doesn’t explain why you’re both bloody and covered in dirt and he literally just got a bullet taken out of his chest.”

Klaus looks down at himself and his bloody hands, at the military uniform that’s more a dirt green than the olive green it originally was. “This-” he gestures down at himself and doesn’t miss the way Allison flinches at his bloody hands- “was all the rage in Vietnam in the late 60s, brother dear.”

“Klaus,” Luther sounds frustrated, “you’ve been missing for a whole day and night and no doubt getting high off your ass, but we don’t have time for this.”

Klaus shakes his head and lets out a bitter laugh, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me. Not even when you literally watched me appear out of nowhere with my soulmate bleeding out in my arms will you be able to believe your junkie brother. But, quite actually, this is the most sober I’ve been since we were thirteen.”

“Do you really expect us to-”

“Luther,” Allison sounds pissed as she lifts her hand up in front of Luther to keep him from talking, “stop. Let him speak.”

Klaus sends a smile her way, “Thanks, Alli.” Klaus looks at his siblings before his eyes shift to the hall behind them, Ben stands there. He looks at Klaus with a small smile and pride in his eyes. “How do you guys feel about family story time?” They all share looks before Diego shrugs and Allison nods slowly. Luther looks like he’s about to have a meltdown from the day’s events. Which, all things considered, should be Klaus.

Klaus looks back at his other siblings, “There’s something that must be done before I get into the story.”

Luther rolls his eyes and Allison purses her lips. Diego steps forward and spreads his arms, “Alright.”

“I need you to take it away.” Klaus sighs and runs a hand through his hair, not caring about the blood. It’s dry anyway. “It wasn’t hard to get stoned where I was, but I couldn’t do it. Not when Dave was trusting me to be able to keep myself alive. I only drank and even that I was beginning to leave. The last time I had a drink was three months ago. I’m not willing to give up into temptation, and believe me it’s so tempting when I have to see him like this,” he gestures at Dave’s still form. “So please, go through my room, trash anything you can find, and lock all the liquor cabinets.” He meets their eyes, one at a time, “I want to be better and there for him when he wakes up.”

They all share a look before they’re nodding. Diego and Luther are the first ones to leave the room, Allison lingers, playing with the loose sleeves of her shirt.

“Do you want me to stay?” Her voice is soft, Klaus has never told her how grateful he is that she was there when they were kids. How much staying in her room as she painted his nails helped.

“Oh god, please.”

She smiles and pulls a chair up to Dave’s side, setting it down besides the one that already was there. Klaus flops down onto it and pulls his legs up to wrap his arms around them and settles his chin on his knees.

“So,” She spreads her arms before softly clapping her hands, “what’s the story?”

“I didn’t go missing by my will,” Klaus starts off, “I was taken hostage when those two invaded the house. They wanted information on Five. I swear I tried not to give it to them, but I slipped. It wasn’t much, no one ever tells me anything. Anyway, during my time there, I had plenty of time to contemplate my life and get a little sober. Then, I managed to escape and I stole their briefcase,” Allison’s eyes drift out the door at the mention of it, it must still be lying in the spot where he arrived. “I was hoping for money or something to pawn, instead, I got sent to 1969. In the middle of a war.” Klaus’ eyes drift to Dave. “He was the first person to notice me and talk to me. This was war, he should have focused on keeping himself alive and not my junkie ass that couldn’t even hold a gun properly. But no, he’s so kind and selfless that he offered me his hand on my first day.

“And he said my words!” Klaus lifts his right arm, not really knowing what to make of the new words, “He said them, but we were both too afraid to even bring it up until three months after I arrived. And then, it all went on from there. I made friends and brothers, and as unbelievable as it sounds, we kind of had a life there. Yeah, it was Vietnam in 1969 and we were at war, we were sent to the front lines almost every day. Fuck, I walked through landmines and watched my friends die only to find them at the foot of my bed when we returned from battle, but I’ve come to discover that any place can be home when you have the right person at your side.” Klaus stops and looks at his hands, “He made me want to be better, so I did. I cleaned myself up, learned how to deal with the screaming spirits, and managed to do some good.”

“Klaus,” Allison hands him a wet towel to clean his hands and sighs as she leans back into her seat, “were you considering staying there?”

Klaus stops, “Yeah.” He runs his hand through his hair and shakes his head, “It was selfish, I know. I carried all the guilt of leaving you all here, but I couldn’t even think about coming back. Not when my whole world was there. I’m sorry.”

Allison takes his hands and presses her lips into a tight line. “I get it. I would have done the same thing.” She stops before leaning forward for a hug. “Klaus, I’m sorry I didn’t stop you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me, that I pretended not to see you taking all those pills. You deserved that, to stay there and keep what you had with him. You still deserve to be happy,” She smiles softly at him, “I’m just asking that you let me be a part of it this time?”

Klaus breaks. God, he’s missed her. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, Alli,” he says through his tears.

Allison pulls him tighter into her embrace, “I missed you too. You were kind of the only one who I could talk to about anything. I regret that I ran out and I didn’t even offer to take you with me, I left you here to deal with it by yourself and I can only imagine how painful it was when you lost Ben.”

Klaus backs a little, “Ben’s still here, but you have no idea how much I missed you and our little sleepovers.”

Allison grins. “Claire would love to meet you.” Then she looks around as if hoping to catch sight of Ben, “And I would also love to talk to him, Ben. I owe him an apology as well.”

Klaus smiles, “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to get sober enough to meet her before.”

Allison shakes her head, “It’s not really your fault. You were forced to turn to that to deal, we all take fault in that. For not stopping you or saying anything, for letting Dad treat you like that.” She looks at Klaus’ side, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Ben.”

“He was terrible to all of us,” Klaus sighs. “You guys had your own shit to deal with. I’m also sorry for never trying to be there for you. I was selfish and too caught up with myself to really notice anything around me.”

Allison laughs and wipes at the tears that had been beginning to gather at her eyes, “We were all selfish. But now we have the chance to be there for each other.”

They stay like that for a while afterwards, in silence. Truth to be told, it wasn’t that long, but time is achingly slow when the only sound is the beeping of a heart monitor. Though, Luther and Diego returned soon enough, and as Klaus had promised Allison, he told the rest of his story.

“So, Allison already got the gist, but I figured you would want to hear all the juicy details together,” he stops and looks around the room. “Where are the others?”

“Right here, dumbass,” Five’s voice comes from behind him, making everyone jump.

“Jesus fuck!” Klaus yells and dramatically clutches at his heart. “Take a seat you little asshole, ‘cause I’m about to spin the best damn yarn you’ve heard in your life.”

Luther rolls his eyes and Allison and Diego exchange looks, Allison’s face offers a small smile. Klaus looks over to where Ben sits, he’d been there when he told Allison and had patiently waited along with them for the others to return and get the full story.

“That’s six of us,” Klaus says, not missing the way that everyone but Allison stares at him in utter disbelief. “Where’s Vanya?”

Allison’s smile falls at the question and everyone else looks at the ground.

“What did I miss?”

“Besides an invasion, not much,” Luther drawls. It gets him a smack on the arm and a fiery glare from Allison.

“You weren’t the only one to suffer from the attack,” She says, eyebrows drawn together in thinly veiled anger. He catches Ben smiling softly at her from where he leans against the wall.

“Maybe I won’t have to worry as much now,” Ben says when he catches his eye. Klaus smiles at him, and it feels good. It feels good to know that now he has three siblings that will back him up, as well as a fiance; that he’s not as alone as he sometimes thinks.

“Vanya left,” Diego says.

“More like kicked out,” Five says and clasps his hands in front of him. He practically screams ‘I’m the only mature one here’ with his posture and neutrally schooled features.

“She was a danger to us,” Diego says, voice harsh but he won’t meet anyone’s eyes. “She’s a liability, we almost got killed trying to keep her safe.”

“So it’s ok to die for everyone but Vanya?” Klaus asks, he lifts an eyebrow and challenges the glare he gets from Diego with one of his own. “Like it or not, she’s still our sister. And she deserves the right to be a part of this conversation, she’s part of the family after all.”

Allison lifts her hand, pretending to hold a cup and make a toast with him.

Diego opens his mouth but his eyes land on the surgical table and he stops. Klaus follows his gaze and runs over to it when he sees Dave stir.

“Babe, can you hear me?” Klaus asks and softly slaps his face to make him react. His eyes open and widen.

“Where the fuck are we, darling?” Klaus laughs, head thrown back and so giddy. His words, once again, have left Dave’s lips.

He leans forward to press his nose into Dave’s cheek and smiles, “Twenty nineteen, baby.”

That makes Dave startle before he’s wincing and Klaus jumps to help him back down slowly. “What are you smoking, babe?”

Klaus smacks him, “You know I’ve been sober for more than seven months, dumbass.”

Dave laughs softly and winces at the movement, it pains Klaus but he’s so happy to see Dave smile. “I know, babe. And I’m proud.” He looks around, taking every inch of the room in slowly, “You still need to explain where we are, though.”

Klaus nods, “I know.” Klaus leans forward, smile on his lips, but before he can get close enough to Dave, someone clears their throat.

Both Dave and Klaus turn back to look at the others; Allison is smiling brightly and offers a small wave to Dave, which he returns with the arm that he can move. Diego stares at them in open mouthed confusion, eyebrows drawn together as his mouth moves, trying to form words but just looking like a gaping fish. Five stares at the two of them, examining them as if they were a particularly hard equation and Luther stares at them with that look he gets when Diego challenges his plans. Ben steps forward and walk towards them.

“Can’t believe my brother chose a guy over me,” He says but there’s a smile on his face.

Diego clears his throat, looking more composed than a few minutes before, “Klaus, care to introduce us to your friend?”

Dave and Klaus exchange a look. Then Dave is smiling, “My apologies, there’s no need for manners in war, but I’m no longer there.” He clears his throat, “I’m Dave Katz, Klaus’ soulmate.”

Allison is the first one to react, ever the charming one of the bunch. “I’m so glad to see that you’re doing well, Dave. And I’m so glad to meet you.” Then she glares at the others and their lack of manners, “These are our brothers, I would introduce you to Vanya, but sadly-” she glares at Diego, which he ignores- “she’s not here at the moment.”

“All at its time,” Dave says and reaches out for Klaus’ hand.

Five takes a step forward, catching Klaus by surprise. He’s the last one he expected to take interest in Klaus’ life.

His eyes remain on Dave, examining him like a test subject, it makes Klaus want to smack him.

Then his eyes trail over to Klaus and they rest on the silver dog tags hanging from his neck. He brings his hand up to his chin and mutters a single, “Interesting,” before disappearing.

Dave jumps, “How many sedatives did they give me?”

Klaus doesn’t laugh, and he can see the fear in Dave’s eyes at the way he remains unresponsive.

They meet eyes. “You weren’t joking?” He reaches out for Klaus’ hand.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You saved me, didn’t you?”

“Well,” Diego looks at them, bursting their little bubble, still not sure what to make of them, a soldier that almost died and his batshit crazy brother, “now that we know he’s not in danger of dying, I’m going to go talk to Mom.”

Allison and Klaus share a look, “So much for family storytime.” Allison smiles.

Diego shrugs but softly touches her arm before stepping forward and catching Klaus in a hug. “We’ll have time to catch up.” A pat on the shoulder and Diego is out the door.

They turn to Luther when he clears his throat, “I still want to hear it. And don’t give me any of your bullshit, Klaus. I have no time for that.”

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Dave’s voice is smooth and unwavering, yet Klaus is able to pick up the anger in it. “Anything Klaus has to say should be taken seriously-” a glaring examination of Luther- “Number One.”

Allison lifts her eyebrows and looks over at Klaus. She mouths, “Wow,” a smile on her lips. Klaus does his best to hide his smile from Luther, who stares at Dave in shock. He’s not used to anyone but his siblings talking back.

“Earth to Luther?” Klaus calls after a few seconds. “Dear Lord, your ego is so big you can’t even handle someone talking back.”

Luther snaps back from his open mouthed shock and looks over at Allison who shrugs and takes her seat. Luther flops down on the chair which Klaus had been formerly sitting on, and Klaus sits by Dave’s side, still clutching onto his hand like he’ll be back in the trenches and painted in red if he lets go. He kisses Dave’s knuckles before turning back to his siblings.

“Alright, the story begins in 1989,” He glances over at Dave, “at least it does for you. Anyway, it’s October first, and 43 women across the world have just given birth, that’s barely unusual said that way, I know.” He sighs and gives Dave’s hand a squeeze. “None of them had been knocked up the day before. One second they’re normal and the next their stomachs are expanding and they’re giving birth on the floor. We’re all some of those children.”

Dave looks at him, dazed and eyebrows furrowed.

Before Klaus can say anything more, Five appears once again, this time clutching the briefcase which Klaus had used to get in and out of Vietnam. “Luther,” There’s a wild look in his eyes as he looks at Luther, “you’re coming with me.” Then he pauses and slowly turns to Klaus and Dave and clears his throat, “My apologies for the interruption and also for not introducing myself.” He takes a step forward and offers his free hand, “I’m Five Hargreeves, I hope this place is to your liking.”

Dave takes his hand, “Dave Katz.” He shrugs and shares a smile with Klaus, “Anything is better than the mud of Vietnamese jungles.”

Five smiles before trudging out of the room without even waiting for Luther to get up.

Luther leaves without another word, Allison remains and exchanges a look with Dave and Klaus. “You can keep going, I really do intend in hearing what you have to say.”

Klaus smiles at her. “We were adopted a few days later by a crazy bastard, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. He wanted us as an experiment, and boy, did he get one?” Klaus shakes his head.

“Babe?” Dave asks when Klaus takes more than a few moments to keep going.

Klaus clears his throat, “We were all born with special abilities, like superhero shit. Luther has his superhuman strength, Diego bends the angle in which things are thrown, he can throw things around a corner. Alli here can bend reality with her voice. I can see the dead, pretty useless, right?” He looks at Dave and finds him staring at him with worry. “Five, you saw what that little shit can do, he can travel through time and space. Ben-” He looks to Allison’s side where Ben took the seat which Luther was previously occupying- “he had a tentacle monster living within his stomach.” Ben shifts in his seat and Klaus shoots him an apologetic smile. Allison narrows her eyes at the seat beside her. “Vanya was the only normal one out of us, but even she got fucked up.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Klaus shakes his head and brings Dave’s hand up to his mouth so he can be able to plant a kiss on his knuckles, “Would you have believed me?”

Dave looks away, he’s still dirty and bloody from the fight and the wound but he’s the most beautiful person Klaus has ever seen. “I don’t know, babe. Maybe I would’ve, maybe I wouldn’t have.” Then he turns back and all that he holds in his eyes make Klaus weak and leaves him stumbling, “All I know is that it wouldn’t have changed a single thing; not us or what I feel for you.”

Allison clears her throat, driving all of their attention towards her once more. Klaus shoots her a sheepish smile as Dave blushes and looks away, his good arm going up to rub the back of his neck.

 

Klaus stays in the infirmary until Grace deems Dave able to stand up. She puts his arm on a sling and tells him to be careful when moving, and then pats his cheek as if he were one of her children.

“I’ll make some waffles for you, kiddos!” She smiles before stepping out of the room. Klaus hears the soft clicking of her heels as she makes her way down, towards the kitchen.

“Well,” Dave says, “let’s get out of here, babe. I’m fucking tired of these walls.”

Klaus smiles and takes his hand, helping him up to his feet. “I’ll show you around.”

They go down the halls, Dave wrinkles his nose at the numerous skeletons and stuffed heads and Klaus scoffs. They come to a stop before Five’s portrait.

“Just a way to tell us, ‘start shit and you’ll wind up like him, something on the wall and not someone to miss,’ ” Klaus turns to look at Dave who is still looking at the portrait. “Didn’t stop us from missing him.”

“You seemed to get along,” Dave stops and considers, “at least more than with Luther.”

Klaus nods, “We were all close to him in a way, Vanya more than anyone though. I think he felt she was the only one who understood his logic, he valued her opinion a lot. He always considered what she said and I think Vanya was just glad to be in someone’s mind. But yeah, we were close.” Klaus looks down at his hands and smiles, “We actually started a book club. Ben and Five came up with the idea, and anywhere Ben was, I was too. And Diego and I have always been close too, so we invited him along. Obviously, Vanya was there too.”

Dave smiles at him, “That sounds nice.”

Klaus snorts, “It’s the reason why Diego has knife restrictions in different rooms.”

Dave lifts an eyebrow. Klaus waves his hand as if willing the memory back to himself, “Five and Diego got into an argument when we were eleven. He threw a knife and almost got our dad who was walking into the room to yell at us for all the noise we were making.”

 

They’re in Klaus room when Five appears. He rasps his knuckles against the doorframe and it reminds him of when they were kids and Five had caught him going through some of his books and offered to explain the equations in them. Dave jumps a bit from his place on the bed and Klaus shoots him a smile.

“Where did you go, Klaus?” Klaus notices that his arms are behind him as if trying to hide something from view.

“I figured you’d already know.”

Five glances to the side and sets his jaw, “I do.” He closes his eyes and takes in a breath, “But I’d rather hear it from you.”

“Vietnam,” Dave says from behind him, “1968.”

Five nods before smiling and moving his arms so the briefcase he holds is visible, the one that took Klaus to Vietnam and brought him back with Dave, “Well, how do you two feel about helping me kick my old employer’s ass?”

Klaus grins, “I’d be glad to, brother dear.”

Dave nods, “Yeah, me too.”

Five smiles, “You seem like someone who has common sense, Dave.” He looks at Klaus and jabs his thumb in the direction of the living room, “Quite uncommon in this house, to tell the truth.”

Dave snorts.

 

Five snatches some car keys from Luther, who looks more than distraught from having had his brother take them so unceremoniously. Diego walks into the room as Five explains the situation to Luther.

“What’s going on here?” Diego looks at all of them before his eyes settle on Klaus and Klaus shrugs.

“Going to kick some ass, I guess.”

“Okay,” Diego’s eyes cut to Dave and down to the sling, “should you be going? I mean, we all just witnessed your short lived death.”

Dave shrugs, “I’m going as emotional support.”

Diego nods, “Well, I might as well join and make sure he-” he points an accusing finger at Klaus who gives him a small wave, displaying the HELLO tattoo on his hand- “doesn’t get killed.”

Dave looks up at the ceiling and takes Klaus’ hand, “Amen.”

Klaus drops Dave’s hand and claps his hands together, “Family quality time, how exciting!”

Diego snorts and then raises an eyebrow at Five’s hands. “What’s that for?”

Five shrugs, “I feel better knowing it’s with me-” he points at a similar briefcase standing by Luther’s feet- “but we’ll be using that as bait.”

“Alright,” Dave says, like it’s perfectly normal for all of this to be happening right after he died a few hours before, “what’s the plan then?”

Luther opens his mouth but Five raises his hand to silence him. It makes Klaus smile, it reminds him of when they were kids and Five would roll his eyes at Luther and point out all the mistakes in whatever plan he had come up with.

Five smiled at him, “You’ll see.”

 

Klaus and Diego sit in Diego’s car, parked across from Griddy’s with the rearview mirror trained on the motel behind them. Diego doesn’t take his eyes of it but he catches a glint of gold out of the corner of his eye. Klaus fiddles with golden band wrapped around his ring finger. Sadly, Dave was stopped before they got him out the door by Grace.

“I’ll keep him busy, dear,” She had said before ushering him out of the room. She was probably giving him her chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Five had deemed it that he only trusted Klaus when Dave was there, so they split and both teams went their separate ways.

“How long have you and Dave been together?”

Klaus smiles to himself as he continues to fidget with the ring, “Ten months.”

Diego lets out a low whistle, “That’s a hella long time. How come we haven’t heard anything about him?”

“Haven’t been around here when we met.”

“And the funeral?” Diego breaks away from keeping his eyes on the motel and turns to fully face Klaus. “I missed you, man, I would have liked to get caught up.”

“We hadn’t met by then.”

Diego smacked him. “I’m trying to have a heart to heart with my brother who almost lost the love of his life and you pull this shit-”

“What about the lady cop?”

Diego stops and his heart skips a beat as he suddenly feels the urge to run his fingers through the words on his wrist. “I got to her in time.”

Klaus lets in a sigh of relief and places his hand on Diego’s arm, “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.” Klaus smiles as he watches the light reflecting off his ring, “I heard the gunshot, and I wanted to go back to help. But I couldn’t. Diego, I was so scared of going back into that room and… I fucking hated that I wasn’t able to go back. That I was too much of a coward that I was willing to hear my brother’s soulmate- your soulmate- get killed.”

Dave gently smacks him upside the head. “None of that. She’s alive, doctors say she’ll be stable. What would you have done if you had gone back? Klaus, you had been kidnapped for God’s sake!” Diego lets out a shuddering breath and runs his hand down his face. “And what would I have done if I had found two bodies instead of one?”

Klaus stays silent and stares ahead.

“Shit,” Diego takes a breath as his eyes take in the sight from the rearview mirror.

Klaus looks up and sees what he means. Hazel. He stands on the side of the building while holding the server’s hands. Klaus faintly remembers the smell of donuts on his breath as he had been tortured.

They both watch in tense silence as Hazel leaves after leaving a parting kiss on the server’s lips and getting into his care to drive into the motel behind them. Diego takes a second to gather himself before he’s pulling himself out of their parking spot and driving into the motel’s. They sit in silence and Klaus wills himself to stay there and not have a panic attack. The war had been enough to lessen the dreams of a shitty motel room and duct tape digging into his wrists.

But that doesn’t mean that they went away. He still wakes up covered in sweat just by remembering their victims.

They watch as Hazel gets out of the car and walks into a room on the second floor. They share a look and then Diego is leaning over the backseat to grab something.

Klaus lifts an eyebrow. “Tracker.”

Diego gets out of the car and places it under it, where no one will be able to see it. Diego returns to the car and takes his seat as his eyes remain on the closed motel room.

“I know this isn’t the time,” Klaus jumps, Ben had been quiet all this time, “but I’m craving an ice cream sandwich.” Ben points to the ice cream truck parked in front of them and Klaus raises an eyebrow.

“That’s gonna have to wait.” Klaus dismisses Ben’s frown and Diego’s side glance as he stares ahead and tries to not let his mind travel too far into the war and stinky motel rooms.

Diego taps his arm and they both watch as Hazel exits the room with an empty ice bucket tucked in his arm.

“I’m going after him. You, stay here.”

Klaus opens his mouth to protest but Diego beats him before he even gets a chance to, “No arguing, you could get yourself killed.”

Something is off, he watches in resigned silence as Diego makes his way up the stairs into the second floor and Ben gives him a look. Klaus sighs before he’s also bolting out of the car and going after him. Diego catches him halfway up the stairs.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Diego keeps glancing around him as he clutches Klaus’ arm. “For once in your life, listen to me. You’re staying here.”

Klaus sighs but slumps against the door and waves his hand at Diego, urging him to go on.

Diego continues to make his way up the stairs before turning back and pointing a finger at him.

“Stay,” He mouths.

“I’m not a dog!” Klaus shouts up the stairs and they both flinch at the echo the stairs make as Ben rolls his eyes.

Klaus stays like he was told. He feels on edge anyway. It’s not the withdrawals or the cravings, he has this feeling that something is wrong and he plays the image of Hazel leaving the room over and over.

The angry lady.

Klaus’ eyes snap open and he pushes himself off the wall and towards Diego. He hears a car as he makes his way to the top of the stairs and sees his oblivious brother trying to look into the room. He turns towards the street and his eyes widen.

Klaus throws out an arm to catch Diego’s arm and pulls him behind the wall. They both lean against it and catch their breaths as they listen to the blunt hits of the bullets.

Diego looks at him with repressed surprise but a glint of thankfulness and Klaus lifts his hand up to give him a peace sign.

“And you thought I was an idiot.”

“I still think you’re an idiot.”

Klaus pats his shoulder before they’re both sprinting down the stairs to get to the car, oddly reminiscent of their childhood.

They get to it only to see that the tires have been slashed. Diego runs a hand through his hair and looks a second away from having a meltdown. Klaus kicks at it.

Ben inches closer to them and leans against the ice cream truck. “So, about that ice cream sandwich?”

 

Klaus clutches the wheel of the ice cream truck as they race down the empty countryside road. Diego is cradling his arm and Klaus tries to ignore the smell of iron in the air as he continues to drive.

“I didn’t know you could drive,” Ben says as he stares longingly at the untouched ice cream sandwich that lays besides him on the dashboard.

“Me neither,” Klaus says under his breath as he squints at the road. “Is this turnout weak or what?” Klaus raises his voice so this time Diego is able to hear him. He gets a side glance and a wince when he jumps in his seat from a bump in the road.

Klaus grins at his brothers before he’s fumbling through the controls on the dashboard until he finds what he was looking for. He flips on the switch and a soft instrumental of “Ride of the Valkyries” fills the air. Ben claps his hands and swings his legs.

Down the road, two figures stand a few yards away from the car they’ve been tracking.

Luther and Five.

Ben throws his arms in the air. “Step on it!”

Klaus does so tentatively.

Klaus takes his eyes off the road to wave his HELLO hand and grin at Five and Luther who both stare at them with awestruck and confused faces.

“Go faster!” Diego yells from the passenger seat and Klaus puts the full weight of his foot on the gas.

“Whee!” Ben screeches from the dashboard with a manic look on his eyes and a delightful smile on his face.

They hit Cha-Cha and Hazel, Klaus lets out a manic cackle as he watches their expressions upon impact from the windshield.

Time stops for a second before life is allowed to continue. Klaus stumbles out of the truck and trips over his own feet but manages to catch himself before he falls face flat on the road. Ben runs ahead of him and waves his hand, telling him to hurry up. Ben stumbles into the passenger seat once Klaus gets to the car and then Diego pushes him inside as he glances over his shoulder to make sure that Hazel and Cha-Cha are not on their way to kill them. Luther pulls himself onto the driver’s seat and takes off.

Klaus turns in his seat and flips them off through the back windshield as Diego catches his breath and Ben giggles in the passenger seat. Klaus turns to face forward and takes in a few breaths. He frowns upon doing a mental count of how many there are in the car.

“Where’s Five?”

Luther glances at him from the rearview mirror before his eyes flicker back to the road. Diego whips his head to look back at the road they just left, as if afraid they had forgotten him.

“He must have gone back to the Academy,” Luther mutters to himself and his grip on the steering wheel tightens.

“Well, let’s just not let him go mission for another seventeen years,” Klaus says.

Ben raises a finger in his direction and says, “Ditto.”

Klaus spends the night in his childhood bedroom with Dave’s hand resting on his curls and his head nuzzling into the crook of his neck. Dave wakes up to the sun and not a war for the first time in more than a year.

Klaus wakes a little after and they smile at each other. There’s no war here. Or so they think.

Luther barges into his room, “Family meeting. Now.”

Klaus rolls his eyes before he sits up and rubs the sleep off his eyes. “So much for a break.”

Dave scoffs and leans over to place a chaste kiss on Klaus’ lips. They both wear smiles as they pull away and Dave softly pats his arm. “We’ve gotta go, babe.”

Klaus gets up and picks up his pair of lace up jeans along with a tie dye crop top. Dave whistles and Klaus winks over his shoulder. Allison had come home last night with bags overflowing her arms. She had handed them to Dave with a smile and wink.

“I didn’t know what you would like,” She said as Dave went through some of the bags, “but you’d look great with anything.”

Klaus did the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture before placing his hand on Dave’s shoulder. “Stop trying to steal my man.”

Now, Dave continues to go through the bags and he eventually pulls out a floral button up and some ripped jeans. “Babe,” He says as he examines the articles of clothing, “these are ripped.”

 

Klaus has to help Dave with his clothes because of the sling but they eventually get done with it. Dave plays with the dog tags still around Klaus’ neck as they kiss, and he smiles at Klaus when they pull away. Klaus himself raises his hand to fiddle with David’s star, golden and making its impression as Klaus presses his fingers against it.

Dave smiles at him before taking his hand.

Ben stands outside his room and he raises an eyebrow at Dave’s outfit. “Nice outfit,” He gestures at Dave’s feet where the rainbow stripes on his socks are visible as they peak out of his floral Doc Martens.

Klaus taps his arm, “Ben likes your outfit.”

“Why, thank you.”

 

Klaus sits on the floor, gripping Dave’s hand as he avoids looking at the liquor cabinet. Luther stands before it and thankfully blocks most of it from view with his large build and long trench coat. Allison leans against the back bar and sips on her coffee as Luther talks. Diego fiddles with a knife across from them and he and Klaus constantly share looks whenever Luther says something that makes them want to smack him. Ben quietly leans against the wall and rolls his eyes at Luther’s words.

Just like old times. Except that now Klaus holds hands with a particularly handsome and loving man; one that scoffs and also shares looks with Diego and Klaus.

“So the world is ending in three days,” Klaus says and waves his hands around in a theatrical movement, “which is grand, but totally messes with my plans, and you expect us to stop it?”

Luther opens his mouth as his eyebrows furrow, he should be used to people questioning him by now. He did have Five and Diego as brothers. Before Luther can say anything, Diego speaks, “He’s right. We don’t even know what causes the apocalypse and we’re supposed to believe it?”

“How can we even be sure that this apocalypse is real?” Allison speaks up. “I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Five’s been a little-” she makes a circular motion with her index finger on the side of her head and whistles- “out of it.”

Klaus smiles and claps his hands together, “Our little psycho.”

Dave laughs, he’s been doing that a lot lately. He figures it’s the most he can do after getting caught up in their nonsense after dying for a second. Fifty years away from the time he remembers.

“What exactly did Five see?” Diego asks.

“Well,” Luther starts, not once meeting his eyes as he starts pacing, passing the couch from which Dave and Klaus lean on, “he said there was destruction everywhere and that we, uh, that we…” he mumbles the words that come afterwards and they all look at each other before they’re inching forward.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Klaus says and waves his arms in front of himself for emphasis, “slow down.”

“What was that?” Allison asks with raised eyebrows and a tight grip on her coffee cup.

Luther looks down at his mug of coffee, child sized compared to his hand. “Well, uh, he said that we died.”

The room is quiet before chaos erupts. “He what.”

Klaus is too shocked to notice the faint blue glow emitting from his hands. In fact, everyone but Dave is, who stares at his hands and tries to process what he could possibly be seeing.

Dave continues to gape at his hands. Distantly, Ben runs his hands through the walls as he walks past them. Eventually, his hands don’t pass through anything solid and then he hits an umbrella, which falls to the floor and opens. Klaus screams and snaps everyone back to the present. The glow fades and Dave makes a mental note to bring up later when tensions aren’t as high.

They hear quiet footsteps and they turn when Luther stops. Vanya stands there, dark hair pulled up into its usual bun, and a man on her side.

Klaus doesn’t like him. The room feels odd in his presence and in his ten months in Vietnam, Klaus has learned to trust his instincts. Dave must feel it too because he tightens his grip on Klaus’ hand and pulls on it so Klaus is closer to him. Allison is the first one to react.

“Vanya,” Her eyes cut to the man that stands besides their sister and Klaus knows that she must feel it too, “and Leonard.”

“Is it just me or does this guy give you the creeps?” Ben asks.

Klaus glances at him briefly and gives a small nod.

“What’s going on here?” Vanya looks at every single one of them and Klaus feels the guilt slowly taking over him. Her eyes settle on Dave for a second before it’s back on Allison.

Allison clears her throat and glances down at her coffee, “Family meeting.”

Klaus sees the quick anger and hurt that flashes on Vanya’s face, “And you couldn’t care to include me.”

Allison’s head snaps up at the words and she shakes her head. “It’s not that, it’s just that we couldn’t reach you.” Allison glances back at them as if asking for help before she turns back to face Vanya, “And we weren’t sure if you would be busy with Leonard or not so-”

“We both know that’s bullshit,” Vanya’s voices rises and Klaus has to keep himself from flinching. She looks over at Dave, “And if it’s so familial, then why the hell is he here?”

Dave looks at Klaus, “I, uh, am staying here with Klaus.” He lets go of Klaus’ hand and gestures at the sling, “Kind of had a medical emergency.”

Vanya sets her jaw before she’s looking at Allison once again. She shakes her head before she’s leaving. “I always knew I was never a part of this family.”

Allison starts to go after her, “Vanya, that’s not fair-”

Vanya turns back and Leonard walks past her before waiting by the doorway. “Fair? There’s nothing fair about being your sister.”

“I have to go,” Allison says softly.”

“You can’t leave,” Luther says, already taking a few steps towards her, “you need to stay here so we can figure out how to stop it.”

Allison puts a hand, stopping Luther from getting too close. “What I need is to see my wife and my daughter.”

 

Allison left in pursuit of Vanya. Luther goes off to chase his hunch of the end of the world having to do with the moon. He does so regardless of the looks he gets from Diego and Klaus.

“Wait,” Dave breathes out, “he lived on the moon?”

“You travelled in time and met five former child vigilantes with superhuman abilities and that’s all you take out of that?”

Dave shrugs. Diego sighs.

“I have to get going.”

“Where?” Klaus raises an eyebrow at his brother.

Diego looks out the window and his face sets into a stoic expression. “Someone’s gotta stop those assholes.”

Klaus shakes his head. “I think you should leave that to rest. No one died that night.”

Diego shakes his head, “I know. But once they’re gone, I’m gonna sleep like a baby.”

Klaus shakes his head again, a projection of Ben’s motions as his dark eyes watch his brother from the shadows.

“I really wished you wouldn’t do that.” Ben spares him a glance but his eyes return to where they had once rested on Diego. “It’s fucking creepy, man.”

 

The day goes on as any other, Dave and Klaus go through the house, hand in hand as always. They had watched in relative silence as Luther walked out of the house, hurt etched into his features. Then, they stumbled into Reginald’s study and found all the unopened reports and samples. Klaus had never been close to his brother, but he still felt bad. Luther spent four years of his life up there. And now he has nothing but unopened bags of research to show for it.

Ben had left sometime after Diego and had just appeared. “You need to get Vanya away from him. Leonard is not who we think he is, Allison was right.”

“What do you mean?”

Dave lifts an eyebrow, “Babe?”

Klaus turns to face him and his lips set into a straight line. “Ben wants me to get Vanya away from the guy.”

“Her soulmate.” Klaus’ head snaps up. Ben looks apologetic. “He said the words.”

“Then why would I-”

“Because he’s not who he says he is-”

Time stops before it’s backtracking. The world retraces its steps until they stop and the morning sun peaks through the curtains of the Academy’s parlor.

There, Klaus sits on the floor, gripping Dave’s hand as he avoids looking at the liquor cabinet. Luther stands before it and thankfully blocks most of it from view with his large build and long trench coat. Allison leans against the back bar and sips on her coffee as Luther talks. Diego fiddles with a knife across from them and he and Klaus constantly share looks whenever Luther says something that makes them want to smack him. Ben quietly leans against the wall and rolls his eyes at Luther’s words.

The scene is the same as it was in the morning, the other morning. Dave shakes as the world wakes up to live through the day again.

A flash of blue, one that takes Klaus back to Vietnam and then to an antique rug, only this time it’s Five the one that comes through the lightning. He’s dropped unceremoniously onto the back bar and stumbles to his feet. He takes Allison’s coffee and downs it in one go.

He smells of gunpowder and blood. Klaus knows the smell all too well by now. Five wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “So what if Dad fucked us up? The world is ending, it’s time you idiots started looking at the bigger picture.” Five glances at Dave, “Nice shirt.” Then he’s limping out of the room. Vanya had left by the time that Five arrived, and Allison had been on her way to book a flight back home, to her wife and their daughter.

“What changes this round?” Diego points a knife at Five as his eyes burn with reserved anger.

Five spreads his arms. “Me.”

The day had come again and it will start again. A new set of tracks in what had seemed as a perfectly steady and straight railroad.

“We still have to let Vanya know,” Allison speaks into the silence, in a way, she had always been a voice of reason. Klaus had always thought of her as a soft spoken leader.

Diego walks up to her and says, “You’re going after that creep, I think my help might be worth something.”

“So, we all agree that Vanya’s man is a creep,” The looks Klaus gets are enough to confirm it. “Great. I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, and besides, Mom still has to give us her bread recipe.” Klaus gets up and offers a hand to Dave.

HELLO.

He smiles at his siblings and waves his other hand over his shoulder as he and Dave make their way to the kitchen.

GOODBYE.

 

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Dave says as he measures the butter they’ll need. Mom had left them with a card, the recipe written on it, and Klaus had decided that he was hungry enough to cook something.

Klaus shrugs. “I tried to keep myself busy all the time as a kid. I was constantly for something new to try or learn, anything to drive the ghosts away.” He twists his lips, “I think that’s what disappointed my dad the most, after learning that nothing could make them go away I completely gave up-”

Dave drops what he was doing onto the counter before turning to face Klaus, he takes his face in his hands, softly cupping his jaw. “None of that,” He leans forward to place a soft kiss to his lips before he’s learning forward. “None of what he made you go through was your fault, babe. You were just a kid.”

Klaus melts into his touch. “You’re right. He always made me feel like I had to apologize for my emotions.” Klaus twists his face into a frown, “At least he paid some attention to me… unlike Vanya.”

“We never got to talk to her.”

“I doubt Grace will let you out of the house with your arm like that,” Klaus says.

“You’re not injured,” Dave says with a pointed look. “And Vanya seemed pretty upset. You should try to talk to her.”

Klaus sighs, “You’re right.”

“I always am.”

 

Klaus walks upstairs when he hears glass clinking in the parlor. He finds Luther hunched over the liquor cabinet and anger all over his face.

“Luther? Are you… drunk?”

Luther turns to him, empty whiskey bottles on the bar. His eyes are bloodshot and he looks near tears. “Dude, you broke into Dad’s liquor cabinet. He’s gonna be so pissed!”

Luther closes his eyes and leans his forehead against the cabinet. A dry sob escapes him and Klaus is taken aback by such raw display of emotion coming from Luther.

“Four years,” he says in a broken voice, “I gave him four years of my life. And it was for nothing.”

“What do you mean?”

“He didn’t open anything I sent him,” he waves upstairs in the direction of their father’s study. “Four years of my life in unopened bags.”

Klaus lets out a breath. Luther laughs but it sounds so wrong; humorless and dry. “I fucking believed that I was doing something up there, anytime I doubted my time up there I told myself that it was all for a reason. And all because I was naive enough to believe that fathers don’t lie to their sons.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Klaus helps lead him to the couch where he flops down, “that’s no way for a leader to act. You’re our fearless leader, remember? ‘O captain, my captain.’ ”

Luther smiles before his body is shaking with more dry sobs. “I want to be like you. I want to be carefree.”

Klaus smiles sadly; to himself or Luther, it’s hard to tell, and shakes his head. “Trust me, you don’t.”

“But I do.”

Klaus shakes his head again and starts to get up.

“Get him,” Luther looks absolutely wrecked. “Dad. Do it, now.”

Klaus shakes his head and his eyebrows furrow, “I can’t.”

Luther gets up, faster than Klaus expects him to in the state he’s in. “Bullshit. You’ve been sober, you little shit,” Luther snarls as he wraps his hand around Klaus’ neck and squeezes. Klaus slaps at his arm, gasping for breath. Luther pushes him against the wall and keeps his hand on his neck. Klaus feels like he’s gonna pass out any second.

Luther lets go and trudges out the door, leaving Klaus on the floor and gasping for breath while softly touching his throat.

 

Klaus leaves the academy after a few minutes of gathering himself. He explains what happened to Dave and shakes his head at Dave’s anger.

“He’s going through a lot, baby blues,” Klaus smiles softly as he touches Dave’s cheek.

Dave doesn’t say anything, he only leans into Klaus’ touch and narrows his eyes at the doorway. Klaus kisses him and leaves with a promise to come back as soon as he finds Luther. Ben stands by the doorway, looking at the wall across from him as Klaus makes his way to the hall.

“I like him,” Ben says as he makes his way down the stairs, shoulder to shoulder with Klaus. Klaus smiles to himself. He averts his eyes when he sees Ben’s hand go up to rub the words on his wrist.

 

The dark alleys are terrible to his anxiety. It’s been almost a year since he trudged through them, hunting for drugs. He couldn’t let that be himself again now that he has Dave waiting for him back home.

Klaus wants to go back; back to Dave and away from the cold and dingy alleyways.

“Klaus,” Ben says, softly as always, “you can do this. We have to find Luther.”

Klaus shakes his head, “Why not just let him live? I mean, he’s getting to know the world!” Klaus spreads his arms and avoids the glances he gets from the people roaming the alleys. They should be used to it, tough.

Ben narrows his eyes. “He’s not ready-”

“Was anyone? Was I? Were you?” Klaus stops. “I’m sorry.”

Ben shakes his head before he goes on.

“What even are our chances of finding him?” Klaus scratches at his arms, the itching under his skin kills him. “We’ve looked everywhere; strip joints, bars-”

“That was the biggest, hairiest dude!” A high pitched voice cuts through the night as the sound of a party grows closer. Ben and Klaus exchange looks before they’re running towards them.

And of fucking course his brother’s first instinct upon finding out he had wasted all his life following a careless father is to get high in a furry rave.

“Klaus!” Luther rushes up to meet him and holds him in a bone crushing hug.

“We need to get you home,” Klaus says when Luther puts him down.

Luther shakes his head, “This is my home.” Luther furrows his brows before his face breaks into a grin and he holds up a pill. “Have you tried these? I’ve never felt so alive!” He laughs and stops, “Though I’m super thirsty.”

Klaus shakes his head before he takes the pill and throws it.

“Why did you do that?”

Klaus stares at where it landed, “I don’t know.” There’s temptation in every part of the place. The music is too loud and the lights flash too fast for him to be able to think. Klaus crawls away into a small corner when a girl drags Luther into the dance floor.

He covers his ears.

The music rings in his ears-

- _the sound of bullets ring out through the battlefield_ -

The neon lights flash before his eyes-

- _they’re under fire_ -

Everyone screams in their high with the music-

- _there’s screaming all around him; the ghosts, wounded soldiers, and_ Dave.

It’s 1968, Klaus cowers behind the sandbags as he stares across the field where Dave lies. He’s on his side and he’s completely motionless. No sign of life comes from him, not even the smallest rise and fall of his chest.

His instincts are thrown out the window as he crawls across the floor that feels concrete beneath his fingers when it shouldn’t; the jungle was never as steady as he would have liked. He goes to Dave, who remains on his side. He crawls to him as he watches his comrades run all around him. They’re retreating, back to camp where there’s a small sense of safety. But he can’t leave Dave.

“Klaus,” A voice that doesn’t belong in the war calls to him, though no voice belongs here in the humidity of the jungle and wondering if the next bullet to be fired will be the one that takes you, “whatever you’re seeing, is not real.” It’s Ben, he hadn’t been there in Vietnam, but he is now. Maybe he’s dead.

He thinks that he might as well be when he turns Dave over and sees his dead eyes staring ahead. His breath is rattled and the rise and fall of his chest has too many seconds in between each one. Klaus gently slaps his hand on his cheek and sobs at the fleeting warmth. He’s so cold.

Why the fuck is he so _cold_?

“Klaus!” Ben is louder now, which makes Klaus flinch. One of the ways to tell his brother’s ghost apart is to seek out the only one that isn’t constantly screaming. Klaus looks up and he’s not in 1968 and Dave’s body is not in his arms. He’s in 2019 and crawling on the dirty floor of a rave. “Luther is in trouble!”

Klaus jumps into action, something that the war taught him. There’s no hesitation, the second you take to think might be the only thing keeping you alive. Klaus jumps onto the back of a man that’s slowly edging towards Luther with murderous intent.

“Luther! Get out of here!” Those are his last words before he’s being slammed down onto the floor, head first.

 

Klaus opens his eyes at the sound of folk music. There’s trees above him and he lies on an open field. He sits up and takes a second to look around. A small cabin with a beautiful garden, he smiles thinking about late night conversations with Dave. Then he frowns.

He hears the soft ringing of a bell and turns just in time to see a girl coming up the dirt road on a bike.

She skids to a stop before him and gives him a once over before she wrinkles her brow. “Almost didn’t see you there with all that gloom.” She tilts her head to the side, “Tell me, have they no sun down there?”

Klaus furrows his eyebrows and points down. “Down there?”

“Yes,” she taps her chin and shakes her head. “I was sure that you’d have more color.”

“Wait a second,” Klaus shakes his head, “where are we?”

“You mortals have many speculations,” She waves her hand, “take a pick.”

“I’m agnostic.”

She shrugs, “That’s fair, I don’t care.” She glares at him, “I don’t like you though, you’re not supposed to be here.”

“Yeah, well, me neither. Aren’t you supposed to like love us unconditionally and all that, tough?”

She rolls her eyes, “I’m just a creator; it’s not my job to love. It’s my job to create and to pick and choose.” She straightens up and her eyes take him in once more, “But I didn’t pick you, not now.”

“So you created me,” Klaus waves a hand behind him, though he’s not sure at what exactly. “Us.”

“I must have if all that you see is the creation of my hands.”

Klaus nods as if it makes total sense for God to be a snarky preteen girl. She sighs and points in the direction of the cabin. “Go. He’s waiting for you.”

Klaus’ eyebrows furrow before he remembers, Dave. “Is he…” his voice trails off as he makes his way to the cabin.

It’s not what he expects when he walks in. Inside is a barber shop from the 50’s. There’s pictures on the wall; his family and Dave staring back at him with blank expressions. It gives him chills.

He eventually comes around and flops down on one of the chairs. Someone behind him places a barber cloth around his neck.

All Klaus can think as the person applies shaving cream to his stubble is, Might as well.

“What the hell took you so long?” Klaus’ eyes snap open and he meets his father’s eyes, cold as ever. “I would have expected my son, who can speak to the dead, to have been able to contact me sooner.”

“I was… busy. I had a lot going on in my-”

“You were poisoning yourself.”

Klaus lets out a breath, “Well, you always did say that I was a disappointment.”

“And I was right, you merely scratched at the potential of your powers, Number Four.” He raises the razor he holds the way that he used to with his pen. The motion, though small, makes Klaus flinch.

“Careful.”

“Don’t worry. You’re already dead.”

“Oh. Well, that’s a relief.”

“And before you try to use my death as an excuse, I’ll let you know that I will not tolerate being used as an excuse for your weakness.” Reginald has always been cold, Klaus doesn’t know why it still manages to shock him. He shakes his head solemnly, but did he ever have any other expression anyway? “You children always did blame everything on me.”

Klaus faces to the side as the razor goes over his cheeks, “Well, you were a sadistic prick. Not to mention the world’s worst father.” Klaus gives him a side eye glare. “We were never allowed to be what we were- just kids.”

“You were never just kids.” Reginald straightens himself. “I wanted you to be able to reach your full potential.”

“And look where that got us.”

“You pump yourself full of poison because you’re afraid. Afraid of what? The dark?” Klaus sighs.

“None of what you did helped us. Just look at your precious Number One. He found all the unopened packages. He knows that all those years up there, those years he gave up to you, were for nothing.”

Reginald hovers over him as he takes in a breath. “That was a mistake on my part.” His eyes meet Klaus’, “I should have burned them.”

Klaus can’t help himself- he lets out a laugh. “That’s your takeaway? You damage every single one of us beyond repair and don’t even care to acknowledge it? I knew you were a monster but I never considered the magnitude of it-”

“That’s enough, Number Four.” Reginald steps back, razor still in hand. “Is he ok?”

“Do you care?”

Reginald closes his eyes, “Everything I did, everything I ever put you through was for your own benefit. I did it to prepare you for the world. To prepare you for something much bigger than yourselves. Though, of course, you never understood that.”

“There are a lot better ways to do that than to lock me up in a mausoleum when I was only four,” Klaus has no intention of hiding the bitterness in his voice. “I was a kid. We all were.”

“I will not repeat myself, but you were never just kids. You were always meant to stop the end of the days.”

Klaus’ eyebrows furrow. “Wait, wait, wait. You knew? About the apocalypse, the end of the world?”

“I knew that I had to bring you all together one way or another to stop it. The fate of the world depended on it.”

Klaus thinks about the words for a second before his mind gets to where it was meant to. A single tear rolls down his cheek as he leans his head back to look his father in the eye. “You mean you…” His father nods, lips tightly pressed together. Klaus shakes his head at the revelation. “No…”

“You must understand that that was the only way to do it.” Reginald looks up. “I’m afraid our time is up.”

“What? You can’t just drop all that on me and expect me to move on with my life.” Klaus’ eyes are wide now as he stares at his father. “I can’t go back, not now! What did you mean by potential?”

 

Klaus sits up on the floor of the rave to find people crowding around him. A few of them gasp as he stands up and a few hands find him to help him get steady. He waves at the onlookers as he makes his way out, calling for his brother as he goes.

Ben keeps glancing at him every few seconds as they make their way out of the alley and back to the academy.

Klaus clears his throat, “I have something important to tell you, to tell the others, about Dad.”

 

Dave convinces Klaus to go to the infirmary and get his head checked, Klaus hadn’t even noticed he was bleeding. Dave twists his face into a frown as Grace gives Klaus the all clear with a bright smile. “If it hurts, come to me as soon as you can, honey.”

Dave had taken his hand and pulled him into their bedroom. “What happened? Luther came home an hour ago.”

“Asshole left me dying on the floor of a rave.”

Dave furrows his eyebrows, “Babe, are you-”

“I’m still clean but I got slammed on the floor because Luther was trying to pick up someone’s girl,” Klaus shrugs. “Figures his first day letting go would lead him to getting high off his ass.”

Dave sighs and there’s resignation on his face as he runs his hand through Klaus’ hair to push it back from his forehead. “Get some rest, babe.”

 

Klaus leaves Dave in the kitchen, making pancakes, as he goes back to the bedrooms to wake up his siblings. There’s important things to get to. He takes Grace’s bell, the one that she would use to call them down to their meals and wake them up as children.

“Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!” Klaus calls down the hallway as he makes his way down while ringing the bell. Luther exits his room with his covers wrapped around his waist and a wild, startled look in his eyes. He doesn’t manage to close his bedroom door behind him and Klaus catches sight of a girl, gathering her clothes. “What kind of mischief have you been up to?”

“No. none of that-”

“Oh, yeah? Then maybe I should ask her,” Klaus says with a cocked eyebrow. Luther gives him another look.

“Can you not-”

“Oh.” Then he laughs, which makes Luther look even more startled. He points a finger at him as he tries to gather himself, “You-” he makes a circling motion with his finger as if outlining his brother- “popped your cherry!”

Luther finally gathers himself, “Klaus-”

“Oh, but I must say hi, make sure that it was a good night and all that,” Klaus smiles and waves at the girl who smiles back and waves over her shoulder as she puts on her shirt. Luther finally manages to close the door. “I mean, it’s good that you’re letting go and exploring, experiences are good for you, man. Don’t be too uptight about it.” Klaus claps his hands and gives his brother a smile, “Dave’s making breakfast and there’s important matters to discuss.” He turns on his heel and waves the hand that’s still holding the bell while doing an exaggerated kick in the air. “Hurry along and get dressed and meet us downstairs!”

Klaus makes his way into the kitchen with a bounce in his step and makes his way over to Dave, who’s facing the stove. He wraps his arms around his waist and leans his chin on his shoulder. Dave smiles and hums acknowledging.

“It smells great, babe.”

Dave smiles softly and turns his head to place a kiss on Klaus’ cheek, “Family recipe.” A look of sadness flashes past his face.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus says. “I know how much your family meant to you.”

Dave shakes his head, “They’ve had fifty one years to get over it.”

Klaus tears himself apart from Dave when he hears Luther’s heavy footsteps making their way down the stars and into the kitchen. Klaus gives Dave a soft smile as Dave narrows his eyes at Luther. Ben stands by the table and examines their brother with a cold look. He’d been pissed, to say the least, that Luther had left Klaus to die.

Klaus grabs four mugs before he considers and remembers that Five is there and will more than likely throw a fit if there isn’t a mug for him. He sets them down and begins to pour coffee into them and hands one to Luther who stares at him with bloodshot eyes. Five appears next to them and takes Luther’s mug before Luther can even get a drink out of it. He takes a seat and promptly ignores the glare that Luther gives him as he accepts the other mug Klaus offers him.

“First order of business,” Klaus starts as he pours himself and Dave some coffee, “we have to talk about our father.”

Luther’s shoulders slump down as Five perks up with curiosity in his eyes. “We’ve been over this, his death was natural causes,” Luther mumbles into his cup, eyes firmly set on the table.

“Yeah, no.” Five raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything as he continues to sip his coffee. “I’ve been sober for months but no one I knew here could pick up the phone in ‘68, which is why I couldn’t reach Dad. Until yesterday.” Klaus does little jazz hands.

HELLO.

GOODBYE.

This manages to get Five into speaking, “Alright, I’ll bite.” He raises his eyebrows and smiles as if he were talking to a kid, Klaus pays it no mind. “What did the old man say?”

“This is a bad idea,” Ben says from where he leans against the table, coffee mug set aside for him. Dave sips his own coffee and glances at Klaus.

“Well, first he went on about how much of a disappointment I was and how all the trauma he put us through was for our benefit- the usual. But then-” Klaus raises a finger, stopping anyone from talking if they were thinking about it- “he brought up his death. And I’m sad to say, that the old man killed himself.” The last part comes more quietly, somberly, than what he had said before. Everyone in the room stares at him.

“Do you ever get tired?” Luther says. “You’re always screaming to be the center of attention, don’t you think it’s time you stop messing around and start acting like an adult-”

“Enough!” Dave barks out. All eyes turn to him and Five raises his eyebrows as he leans back in his seat and sips his coffee. “I know of his past, but that doesn’t allow you to dismiss and belittle him. So if you could please shut up and listen to him for once in your life that would be-”

“Master Klaus is correct,” Pogo stands by the doorway, eyes casted down and age wearing down on him. “Sir Reginald knew that the end was coming and he had to stop it by bringing you all together one way or another. And I-” Pogo looks to the side, clearly avoiding their eyes- “I aided him. We reprogrammed Grace so she wouldn’t be able to administer first aid on that night.”

Everyone’s eyes go from Klaus to Pogo and back again. Finally, Luther stands and leaves the room, shaking his head and looking as angry as he had yesterday when he left after almost killing Klaus.

 

“How did he know?” Five asks as he enters Klaus’ room. It makes both him and Dave jump. “How did the old bastard know about the apocalypse? There was no way he should have known; and thinking back, he always did say he was preparing us for the end of the days.”

Klaus shrugs, “I always assumed he said so to scare us into doing the dishes.”

Five nods as his eyes wander the room, the way that he always did when he was younger, taking in all of his surroundings. “That’s what I thought too.”

“I mean,” Klaus waves his hand around, “how much did we really know the old coot. He’d spend all his time in that study and never even looked at us unless it was to experiment.”

 

“I’ve had a few rough days, lately,” Klaus says as he makes his way down the stairs hand in hand with Dave and following Five, Ben on their trails.

Five scoffs, “Tell me about it.”

Diego enters the house, a dark look on his face. Klaus looks him over, “Where were you.”

“Hospital, visiting Patch.” Klaus nods but doesn’t say much.

“What are you guys up to?”

“We have to find Luther,” Klaus says, “ya know, end of the world, the clock is ticking, the gist.”

“Where are the others?” Five asks.

Diego looks behind him, he seems haunted, his features pulled taut, exhaustion hanging off him. “We found out that Vanya’s little boy toy is a murderer. Allison went after her to warn her.”

“And you didn’t go with her?” Five asks, voice clipped, as if trying to keep his anger in check.

“I got a call,” Diego says softly into the place besides him. “Something went wrong during surgery and they feared that Patch wouldn’t pull through.”

Five deflates and his eyebrows crease.

“She was getting stabilized when I got there,” Diego shakes his head and straightens his shoulders. “She’s fine now. She will be.”

Klaus lets go of Dave’s hand and walks up to Diego, softly placing a hand on his arm. “She’s strong, I’ve only met her a few times, but I know she is. She’ll pull through.” Diego meets his eyes and nods, holding onto Klaus’ words. “But right now we have to find our idiot brother.” Diego smiles, only a twitch of his lips, but a smile nonetheless.

 

They find Luther in a small diner, nursing a coffee mug in his huge hands. Diego is the one that takes up on talking to him while Five, Klaus, Dave, and Ben watch from a distance.

They watch as they talk, Klaus and Five trying to figure out what they’re saying until Diego looks over at them and they take it as their cue to get into the conversation.

“I could have just eavesdropped and yelled back what they were saying,” Ben says as they walk to the table. It gets a smile out of Klaus.

“Hey,” Klaus says once they get to the table and Luther looks up. “I’m pretty sure the end of the world is still on, so we might want to pick ourselves up.”

Diego nods. “Not to mention we have to get Allison and Vanya away from Leonard, or whatever the fuck his name is.”

“Wait,” Luther says, “Allison went after them, on her own?”

“Not to mention that our powerless sister is missing with a murderer,” Five says through gritted teeth.

That’s all Luther needs to get whatever money he has on him and drop it on the table before he’s rushing out the door with everyone following.

 

Klaus gets stuck in the back of the car with Luther as Five drives. Diego had beaten him to the passenger seat and Klaus had decided to sit on Dave’s lap since Ben was also there and it would be rude to sit on him. Dave definitely didn’t mind as he wraps his arms around Klaus and rubs soothing circles into his hip bone.

“Can you go any faster?” Luther asks as he leans forward to be able to speak directly to Five.

“Ask that again and I’ll burn you with the cigarette lighter.” Diego and Klaus exchange looks through the rearview mirror.

Luther looks terrified as he sits back and plays with the loose threads of his gloves.

 

They get to the cabin, from where a soft yellow glow emits. Someone’s home. There are no cars in the driveway, which strikes Klaus as odd. Not to mention that urge to bust out of the place. The whole thing gives him the creeps. No one that has ever killed should own a cabin, much less one where they’re planning on spending the weekend with his sister. The door is slightly open.

Klaus doesn’t say anything, but he knows the feeling is mutual when Ben shrinks into himself and glares at the steps as the others go up to the door and Dave tightens his grip on Klaus’ hand. Luther softly nudges the door open all the way. A sob breaks through them and then, him and the others are bursting through the doorway. Klaus and Dave walk up and see Allison, throat open and bleeding all over the carpet.

Dave pushes past Luther after dropping Klaus’ hand and takes her pulse. “She’s still alive!” He turns back to them and gestures at Diego and Klaus, “Get me something to cover her wound, we need to stop the bleeding.” He sighs and looks down at Allison, “Luther, get her in the car! Now!”

They do just as they’re told, Five offers support and his own medical eye at Allison’s wound.

He shrugs at their looks, “I had to treat my own wounds from time to time.”

The way back is tense, Dave cradles Allison’s head in his arms and softly murmurs updates on her health. Diego steps on the gas, going as fast as he can as Luther deals with his shock in the passenger seat.

Klaus has never been religious, yet he prays. First he prayed for the love of his life, now he prays for his sister.

Maybe he’s holding Death’s hand, but he won’t let it hold Allison’s.

 

Diego passes out as soon as he sees the needle and Grace takes his blood as he lies on the floor. All of them silently watching and praying that their sister lives.

Klaus sighs and leaves the room, the tension of it getting to him and sinking into his bones.

“You alright?” Dave comes up from behind him and leans against the rail, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus says, “that I dragged you out of a war zone only to push you into another one.”

Dave shrugs, “Everyone’s life’s got static. I mean, here, with all this crazy shit, it’s the most normal I’ve felt in two years.”

Klaus smiles, “Figures.”

“But seriously,” Dave turns to face him and gently takes Klaus’ hand in his, “are you alright?”

“I don’t know.” Klaus runs a hand through his hair and squeezes Dave’s hand. “God, I don’t know. My sister might be dying behind that door, my other sister is missing with a murderer, my supposedly functional brother completely broke down, the other two… I don’t even know what’s up with them. Diego is fine, most of the time. But Five? I believe him but he’s been running around in circles and it’s all so much-”

“Hey,” Dave brings him back to Earth from his hysteric ranting. “Things are rough right now, and there’s so much going on that would break a normal man, but we have to stay strong. Your family needs you. And I’ll be here, through it all.”

Klaus looks up at him, “Promise?”

Dave intertwines their fingers. “Promise.”

 

Klaus stands before the chamber, one he’d never seen before. He hates it, it’s another mausoleum. He hates his father even more.

He hates Luther.

He hates the sight of Vanya, panicked and terrified, pounding on the door and crying.

He hadn’t heard the door open or Vanya’s panicked voice calling out for help. He only felt the rumble of the walls as the house shook with the intensity of panic.

He covers his mouth, thinking about his own time spent like that. “No,” He says and Luther and Diego turn to him. “You can’t leave her in there, let her out.”

“Klaus,” Luther’s voice is cold, much colder than he had ever heard it, “she’s killed, she hurt Allison.”

“Are you an idiot?” Klaus looks at him incredulously. “She’s our sister. She just found out about her powers, she must be terrified. Let her out, Luther.”

Diego stares at him before he’s nodding, “He’s right.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Klaus says and raises his chin. “Vanya gets out.”

They hear a soft tapping and they all turn towards the doorway, where Allison stands, clean clothes on and bandage covering the cut on her throat. She’s glaring at Luther, fiery gaze more intense than he’s ever seen it. Her gaze turns to Vanya and her anger breaks and leaves path for compassion.

They all stare as she raises her notepad and furiously writes with her black marker, LET HER OUT.

“Allison,” Luther and Allison had always been close, she was the only one that wasn’t afraid to talk about her marks with him.

Allison shakes her head and steps forward. Luther blocks her path. She hits him, Luther pays no mind to it and remains in her way. She hits him again and again until she’s crying. Then she stops and breaks down into soundless sobs. Klaus rushes forward to catch her and she buries herself into his arms.

“Let her out,” Klaus says as he wraps his arms around Allison. “This isn’t something you get to decide on your own, Luther! Do you think this is the right thing to do? Lock up our sister in a chamber, Jesus fuck.”

Luther doesn’t meet their eyes. “She’s a threat.”

“She’s our sister,” Diego says and pushes Luther out of the way towards the door. Vanya quiets down enough to watch the scene before her unfold but the wild look remains in her eyes.

“She’s out of control!”

“She had no idea what she was able to do until recently!”

Klaus feels his shirt start to soak through with Allison’s tears and he holds onto her tighter. Klaus needs to get her out of there, the screaming is too much for her to handle, he knows it. Luther notices too and grabs her arm. He leads her out of the room.

Diego and Klaus exchange a look before going forward to the door.

They wait for Luther to be out of view before they open the door. Vanya falls to her knees when the door opens and her body shakes with sobs. Klaus crouches down next to her.

“Vanya?” Vanya lifts her head and meets his eyes, Klaus hates that she had to go through that. “It’s ok, everything will be ok.” He helps her to her feet and leads her up towards the living room.

Dave is standing by the bookshelf there, picking out books from the shelf and paging through them. His hair is ruffled and and his clothes, some of Luther’s old stuff, fits a little tight, and he’s beautiful. He turns to them and puts the book down before going over to meet them. He gingerly touches Vanya’s arm.

“Vanya?” She lifts her head, she’d only caught a glimpse of him. Dave offers his arm and a smile, well aware that they’re not versed well enough to even be considered acquaintances. “Hey, uh, I know we haven’t talked as much as I would have liked, and I’m sorry about that. But right now I’m gonna need you to calm down. Can you do that?” Vanya nods and Klaus leads her to the couch with Dave’s help. Diego follows closely behind and keeps glancing over his shoulder.

She sits down and curls in into herself while clutching Klaus’ arm. Dave continues to stare at the scene before him before he nods to himself. “I’ll bring some tea.”

“I’ll help you,” Diego says as he makes a quick gesture to the sling Dave wears.

They sit in silence until Vanya’s breath quickens and the panicked look returns.

“Vanya?” Klaus shakes her slightly as she continues to hyperventilate. “Vanya, calm down. Breathe.” She looks at him with glassy eyes. “You’re not there anymore, you’re safe. I won’t let him put you there again.” Klaus remembers his own time spent in confinement and he represses a shudder and sob of his own, instead he thinks about how he wished someone had talked to him after being locked up there with no one but screaming spirits. “Vanya, I’m gonna need you to breathe with me,” He holds onto her arms as she stares at the way he takes in a deep breath and how he exhales. She mimics the motions and slowly, the panic clears off her face.

Dave walks into the room, holding a plate of cookies while Diego carries a tray with four cups of tea. They place it down on the coffee table and Vanya looks down at it hungrily. “Why did you help me?” She whispers.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Klaus asks as he takes a cup and gives it to Vanya. He takes one for himself and sets a cookie aside for Ben out of courtesy. No one says anything as their eyes remain on Vanya and her trembling shoulders.

“I hurt Allison,” Vanya closes her eyes and sets down her cup before tightly wrapping her arms around herself. “I thought I killed her.” A sob makes its way out her throat and her shoulder shakes as she starts to breakdown into her arms. “There was so much blood… I just wanted her to stop talking, I wanted her to leave. But there was so much blood.”

Klaus wraps his arms around her and clutches her to his chest. “She’s okay. Vanya, look at me.” She does and her eyes are wide and filled with tears. “She’s okay, she’ll be okay. It wasn’t your fault.” Klaus brings her closer once again, “We’ll be okay. I swear.”

Diego watches the scene unfold before him in silence before he’s moving to sit on the armrest besides Vanya. He touches her arm softly and joins the hug when she doesn’t pull back.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers into her hair and mourns the afternoons in which they had laughed in the library during a book club meeting. Of those times he stopped and took a second to listen to whatever piece she was practicing. He mourns their blooming friendship that was lost to an abusive father and their naivety. He mourns the trust that was killed; it was killed by a book born out of anger and frustration from being neglected. And he got it, he understood it now that he saw the remorse and guilt in her eyes.

He buries himself into her hair and extends his arms so they wrap around Klaus as well. Dave clears his throat and they listen to his distant footsteps as he leaves to let them have this moment. Suddenly, a blue glow makes its way into his vision and another pair of arms is added into their little hugging pile. He opens his eyes and sees both Vanya and Klaus staring at a blue figure that stands next to them; Ben.

Klaus’ hands glow blue and his mouth hangs open as he stares at their brother. Vanya starts crying again, only this time, there’s pure adoration and joy in her look instead of remorse and guilt.

“Oh my god,” Klaus breathes out before he’s lounging himself into Ben’s arms. Vanya stands up only to fall into the embrace as well and Diego stares at them in shock.

“Klaus,” His brother leans back from Ben’s arms, “how the hell are you doing that?”

Klaus shrugs and looks at his hands, the blue glow getting stronger as Ben becomes more corporeal. “I don’t know. Little things started happening while I was in Vietnam, ya know? Soldiers got disarmed as soon as I waved my hands when I was in the right set of mind- sober and terrified. But nothing like this, I’d thought it was just coincidence, a chance every few months.”

Now, Diego doesn’t think about it before he’s joining the hug. Ben laughs, and they can all feel it. The rumble settles into their bones and it makes Diego tighten his grip as a soft sob escapes Vanya’s lips. Ben takes her face in his hands and places a kiss on her temple.

“I’ve heard you play your violin over the last years,” He says. “You’re truly something else, V.” Vanya grins up at him through her tears. He looks at Diego and his smile widens. “I missed you, too. But, it’s been a rough couple of days. Maybe we should finish the lovely tea Dave got us. Man, it’s been forever since I’ve had food.”

Klaus grins before he’s dashing off into the kitchen.

“Vanya?” Diego asks, turning to his sister as a question springs into his mind. “What exactly happened with Leonard?”

Vanya casts her eyes down, “His last words weren’t the ones on my wrist.” Her face darkens and Diego nods, not sure of what to say. The room settles into silence.

“Weird, huh?” Ben says as he grabs the cookie Klaus had set aside for him, “I never thought I would get to have a conversation with you guys again.”

“We really missed you,” Vanya says softly.

Ben smiles sadly and nods, “I know.”

“If you were to ask me for anything,” Diego says before he fully registers that he’s talking, “I would give it to you without hesitation.”

“Well,” Ben’s eyes filter to the stairway, “I’ve been itching to punch Luther for some of the shit he’s pulled lately.”


End file.
